Jonathan, easiest president to unseat —Kwankwaso

Jonathan, easiest president to unseat —Kwankwaso

KANO State governor and presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso, has said that President Goodluck Jonathan is the easiest president to unseat.
In an interview with journalists in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, where he attended the APC governors’ meeting on Wednesday, Kwankwaso said the country was not being well governed and that insecurity, corruption, religious and ethnic cleavages had taken the centre stage in the polity.
He said, “Jonathan is the easiest president to unseat. Many people are not happy. There is pervading poverty in the land; and insecurity is another factor.
“As I speak with you some people are on the hills, in the forest, under mountains taking refuge; they are internally displaced. On Monday we sent six trucks of relief materials to our people in refugee camps in Niger Republic.
“Unfortunately we have leaders in this country who have divided the country along religious and ethnic lines. All other countries are making progress but here we are being fed with statistics that cannot be verified. I think Jonathan should be happy if we unseat him because it will help him to go and rest.”
The governor said Nigeria in 2015 required a leader who would instil discipline in the polity and demonstrate the capacity to effect needed changes in national governance.
He said, “Change is possible once you get the right agent of change. What has happened in Kano State for instance has never happened and what made it possible was that the people had a new governor in 2011; it was that simple. We need people who are disciplined in Nigeria; people who mean what they say and stick to it.
“But in any case, I have said it before that the Peoples Democratic Party will rule for only 16 years and that 16 years will lapse by May 2015. They will pack out by 2015 and that is it.”
Kwankwaso said he was not intimidated by other APC presidential aspirants, including a former Head of State, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.); and a former Vice President, Alhaji Abubabakar Atiku.
He also said he would not object to the consensus candidacy arrangement but that it should be based on dialogue and mutual respect among the aspirants.
He said the APC would defeat the PDP in the 2015 general elections.
According to him, the process of endorsing Jonathan by PDP governors and some other stakeholders is undemocratic and does not allow for vibrant and healthy contest.
He reasoned that the founding fathers of the PDP would not be happy with the method adopted in endorsing Jonathan because such could not have been their vision for founding the PDP.
“One of the greatest mistakes of the PDP is the way they did their consensus; governors and other stakeholders just sat down and endorsed one person, people came from different places just to sit in Abuja and endorse what was done in the Villa. That is not democracy. I think founding fathers of the PDP will be sad in their graves over this,” Kwankwaso said.