A former National Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman, has described the presidential ambition of Rabiu Kwankwaso, former governor of Kano and 2023 presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), as a ‘mirage.’
Lukman stated this in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday.
He said, “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 more likely to have more confidence in the party.”
Meanwhile, Lukman has urged the ruling party to fast-track Kwankwaso’s presidential ambition by facilitating his return to APC.
He said the corruption allegations facing APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje in Kano have political undertones, adding that only a political solution would solve it.
Lukman added that the troubles facing Ganduje in Kano have to do with his political differences with Kwankwaso.
According to him, the political feud between Ganduje and Kwankwaso “was an avoidable crisis that emerged because the party didn’t handle it well,” which made Kwankwaso dump the ruling party.
He said, “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.
Recall that Ganduje and some of his family members are being probed by the state anti-graft agency over corruption charges, and the matter is in court.
Some APC ward chieftains suspended Ganduje, but the APC disowned those chieftains and affirmed the former Kano governor as the party’s national chairman.
Reacting to the Ganduje’s suspension saga, Lukman 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.”