APC Primary: Coordinator Is Sure Of Kwankwaso's Victory

Ladipo Johnson, the coordinator of Kano State governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s campaign in the South-west region, is sure that he will defeat other presidential candidates running on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Rabiu Kwankwaso

It would be recalled that the primaries of the major opposition party are scheduled for December 8. Other key aspirants heading for the position include former military Head of State General Muhammadu Buhari and ex Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

While Buhari and and Atiku have already officially declared interest to run for presidency in 2015, Kwankwaso is to do so tomorrow, October 28.

Speaking with Leadership on the issue, Johnson expressed respect towards Buhari and Atiku saying however that the younger population of Nigerians which make about 80%  of voters, will prefer a younger energetic candidate.

"The younger Nigerians are looking for a young, vibrant and disciplined leader who can drive the change that Nigerians want and that person from the APC is Kwankwaso.”

According to the coordinator, Kano State governor possess all the assets of a good leader. He provided his achievements as an example and explained how Kwankwaso would solve the country’s problems.

“In addition to his political pedigree is the infallible fact that Kwankwaso has revolutionalised infrastructure in Kano State. We have seen the premium he places on education. The country at the moment is not doing well with education as can be seen in the budgeting preference. Nigeria has continued to budget for education below the United Nations’ stipulated 20 per cent. Incessant strikes by lecturers, mass failure in WAEC and the recent lull in the Nigeria Law School are some of the manifestations of a poor education system run by the government of Nigeria today.”

Regarding the tactics to eliminate unemployment, Johnson commented:
“Employment is not an isolated factor. When a country has a sustainable economic growth, it will attract investment and jobs will be created. I do not believe in setting up a certain government agency and recruiting people into it. When there is power and security, investment must come and this will produce jobs.”

The campaign coordinator also noted that Kwankwaso is a socially-oriented politician, which he demonstrated by his performance as the state governor,
“He has run his state providing huge social infrastructure without borrowing. In fact, it may interest Nigerians to know that this man met a debt of over N7 billion when he took over as governor of Kano State. Out of this amount, more than N1 billion was indebted to various hotels by the previous government. That is sheer extravagance and misuse of public fund. But Kwankwaso has diligently and carefully run Kano State blocking further wastages. His government will block wastages in the system and introduce discipline in the system.”

It would be noted that Kwankwaso took a swipe at President Goodluck Jonathan last week saying it would be easy to remove Jonathan in 2015 as “Nigerians are angry with him”.

Indications have recently emerged that APC might adopt Buhari as consensus candidate because the party leader Bola Tinubu allegedly openly declared support to the former military during the APC October meeting.

However Jonhson believes that Kwankwaso will emerge preferred flag bearer of the APC.