The Kano State Governor, Musa Kwankwaso,
has criticised President Goodluck Jonathan’s
handling of the Boko Haram crisis, saying Mr.
Jonathan lacks the competence to function as
Nigeria’s Commander in-Chief.
Mr. Kwankwaso said this Saturday to APC
supporters who gathered in Abuja to raise
funds for his presidential campaign.
“We need to have the right commander in-
chief who has the capacity and the political
will to stop the nonsense that is happening in
this country,” Mr. Kwankwaso, referring to
the menace of the Boko Haram insurgents.
“Today, we have a situation where we go to
beg for help from countries that came to beg
us to help protect their people in the past.”
The governor also boasted that over 50
percent of members of the ruling Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, will vote for the All
Progressives Congress, APC, if he emerged its
presidential flag bearer for the 2015 polls.
He also noted that many bigwigs of the ruling
party would defect to the APC as soon as he
emerged its presidential candidate.
He did not, however, name some of the PDP
chieftains who are angling to leave for the
APC.
Mr. Kwankwaso is a former member of the
PDP, who served in several capacities
including as defence minister and a member
on the board of the Niger Delta Development
Commission, NDDC.
While speaking at the fundraising dinner, Mr.
Kwankwaso lampooned the PDP and President
Goodluck Jonathan for failing to rise up to the
challenge of protecting the lives and property
of Nigerians.
“I always feel bad that we can no longer
protect ourselves as a country. But this is a
country where its military performed
creditably by protecting people from other
African countries and helping a country come
out of a repressive apartheid regime,” he said.
“As we are sitting here, thousands of
Nigerians are refugees in Chad and Niger. We
have over five million internally displaced
persons in the North-east. This is a very sad
development because many people do not
think the North-east is still a part of this
country.”
Mr. Kwankwaso noted that securing the lives
and property of the citizenry is one of the
cardinal functions of government all over the
world, adding that “any government that fails
in this sacred responsibility has no business
being in power.”
He appealed to APC delegates and delegates
from other political parties in the country to
do the right thing by electing candidates
capable of lifting Nigeria out of its present
sorry state.
While thanking his supporters for donating to
his campaign fund, Mr. Kwankwaso urged
them and all Nigerians to pray for his success
not only at the APC presidential primary but
also at the general election.
He particularly praised a young man who
donated N100 to the campaign fund and
vowed to use the proceeds from the fund
lunch to pursue his presidential ambition,
which he described as a “noble” cause.
Earlier, the guest speaker at the fundraising,
Baba Galadima, had extolled Mr. Kwankwaso
for the positive changes he has brought to
governance in Kano State.
Mr. Galadima, said when the idea to organise
the dinner was conceived six days earlier, it
was difficult to believe that it would be a
success.
But considering the number of supporters and
friends who turned up for the programme, Mr.
Galadima said he was humbled by the
outpouring of goodwill for Mr. Kwankwaso.
“Our principal, who is aspiring to be the
president of Nigeria, will definitely win the
APC primary and ultimately win the general
election by the grace of God,” he said.
About N2billion was raised at the dinner
which was attended by friends and supporters
of the governor within and outside the
country.
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