The immediate former National Vice Chairman, North-West of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman, has described the presidential ambition of Rabiu Kwankwaso, ex-Kano governor and 2023 presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) as a “mirage.”
Lukman, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday which was monitored by Africa Today News, New York, however, said the ruling party can fast-track Kwankwaso’s presidential ambition by opening the party’s door for him to come back and rebuild burnt bridges across the country.
He claimed that there are political overtones to the corruption charges against APC National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje in Kano and that a political solution is the only way to resolve them. He claimed that Ganduje’s disagreement with Kwankwaso is the reason for his problems in Kano.
He said the protracted conflict between Ganduje and Kwankwaso “was an avoidable crisis which emerged because the party didn’t handle it well” which made Kwankwaso dumped the ruling party.
“We must push Dr Abdullahi Ganduje to renegotiate relationships back in his state because it’s political. If you don’t approach it politically, you will never take it away. You can replace Dr Abdullahi Ganduje and if the capacity to get leaders to do the right thing in their base is not addressed, we will continue to get into this,” he said.
Ganduje and some of his family members are being probed by the state anti-graft agency under the control of Governor Abba Yusuf of the NNPP over corruption charges and the matter is in court. Some APC ward chieftains have suspended Ganduje but the matter has been roped in conflicting court judgements, with the APC disowning those chieftains and affirming the ex-Kano governor as the party’s national chairman.
Lukman, a former Director General of Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) of the ruling APC, said, “We must accept that things are not alright within the APC, forget about the Ganduje matter in Kano. The reality is that we have problems that require us to come back to rebuild our party.
“The ambition of Senator Kwankwaso is to become the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Where he is today, I can confidently say that it will be like a mirage for him to be the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“It will take years of building and negotiation across the country which may outlive his lifespan and if we are to fast-track it and open our party for him to come back in such a way that we renegotiate his relationship with Dr Ganduje and across the state, we also renegotiate relationships between leaders and bring in new forces, Nigerians are even likely to have more confidence in the party.”
Africa Today News, New York reports that Kwankwaso is being projected to run again for the Presidency of Nigeria.