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Dismisses Rift with Atiku
- Safiu Kehinde
Former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has disclosed how her daughter had once charged him to work with the 2023 Labour Party’s Presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Kwankwaso said his daughter had long mentioned the idea before his eventual partnership with the former Anambra state governor at the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC).
The ex-Minister of Defence disclosed this while speaking on the difference in the political ideology between the older generation of politicians and young Nigerian voters in an interview on Arise TV’s Prime Time programme on Monday evening.
Kwankwaso maintained that a lot has changed in the social media age which many old politicians like Atiku Abubakar don’t understand.
“But the fact remains that so many things have changed in this country. You have leaders many of them don’t even realise what is happening on social media.
“We have leaders who barely have any contact with the young men and women. People of your age, my age, or the age of Atiku are very few in this country comparatively with the younger people.
“The younger people have their own way of think- even our children. You will be surprised that in 2023 election in my own house, my own daughter was telling me to go and work with Peter Obi.
“She didn’t say she was Obidient but she wanted me to work together with him.” He said.
Kwankwaso held that this also applies to several other households across the country.
He held that the political interest of the younger generation has gone beyond religious and ethnic sentiments.
“And vice versa, you will be surprised that even in your house or anybody’s house in the South, maybe there are Kwankwasiyya people there, you wouldn’t know.
“Maybe your watchman or house boy that cooks for you are Kwankwasiyya. And once you are interested, he won’t tell because he doesn’t want to offend you.
“There is a lot happening in this country but people at that level that we are talking about don’t even understand.
“People are talking of religion. People are talking of ethnicity, especially those of older level and our ages.
“But the younger people are looking for the right leadership for this country, and I think they are absolutely right.” He said.
Meanwhile, Kwankwaso dismissed having any rift with Atiku over his decision to dump the ADC and join Obi at the NDC.
The ex-Kano governor held that their decision to leave the party was borne out of the challenges facing the party.
“I personally, and I think Obi himself, decided to leave ADC not because we are fighting with Atiku or anybody there. We decided to leave that party because we realised that there are some issues.
“As it stands now, they have three major issues which we believe from our own side are difficult to solve and field candidates.
“People have to be flexible. Whatever advantages and disadvantages that are on the ground, you have to look at them.
“Mainly, we decided to leave the party because of those issues. And whether they will be able to field a candidate in that party or not, it is just a matter of time. It will come and pass.” He said.
Kwankwaso noted that if they had stayed, Atiku might have emerged as the party’s flagbearer.
He however recalled their previous encounters at party primaries, stressing that politics is just like a game.
“We had primary elections. This is not the first time. If we had stayed to have the primary election, it is our leader Atiku Abubakar.
“I remember in 2015, we had primary in Lagos. Buhari was number one, I was number two, he was number three, Rochas was number four.
“There was an election again in 2019 in Port Harcourt. He won the election. I was his coordinator for the North. We worked for him. Politics is just like a game. I’m not fighting anybody and I’m not expecting anybody to fight me.
“But the fact remains that so many things have changed in this country. You have leaders many of them don’t even realise what is happening on social media.” Kwankwaso said.