APC Presidency: Senator begs Buhari, Atiku to step down for Kwankwaso

Chairman of the Senate Committee on States and Local Governments, Kabiru Gaya, yesterday appealed to former head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, to step down for Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 polls.

Gaya, a former governor of Kano State, who made the call in an interview with newsmen in Abuja, said the duo of Buhari and Atiku, as elder statesmen should allow a younger and more vibrant man, like Kwankwaso to fly the party’s ticket.
He also said the achievements of the Kano State governor, who is spending 75 per cent of the state’s budget on capital projects and 25 per cent on recurrent expenditure, were enough proof that he would transform the nation’s economy, if elected.
Senator Gaya also made reference to Kwankwaso’s antecedence as a former Minister of Defence, adding that he would be able to tackle effectively, the insurgency in the North-East states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.
“I am not trying to introduce politics into the situation, but we have to tell ourselves the truth. Governor Kwankwaso was a Minister of Defence, and is now a serving governor. He was also a lawmaker, who rose to become a deputy speaker of the House of Representatives in the Third Republic.
“He was also special adviser to the President on Dafur. He was a member of the Niger Delta Development Commission. Hence, he has the credentials. He is a young man, too. He can work for 18 hours a day. I believe that all our elders and leaders in the APC should support him. If you look at the situation in other countries, their citizens are going for young people to become their president.
“In America, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama for instance, are young men, who became president having youthful hair but grew grey hair in power because of, mainly the external problems that their country was facing.
“We won’t mind if Kwankwaso, if elected president, has to grow grey hairs in the course of tackling Nigeria’s internal problems. Look at how he had ensured peace in Kano. He will do the same for the country being a former Minister of Defence,” he said.