The Kano State Governor, Alhaji Rabiu
Kwankwaso, on Thursday changed his position on the use of consensus
arrangement to pick the presidential candidate for the All Progressives
Congress in the 2015 Presidential election.
Kwankwaso had said on Monday in Abuja
that the APC was already considering the option of producing its
candidate through a consensus arrangement, but that such an action might
not produce the expected result.
However, the governor, who was in the
Senate to canvass for the support of members of his party in the upper
chamber, said he would not mind a consensus arrangement if that would
produce a credible candidate.
He said, “People are worried and very
much concerned about the issue of primary. Let me tell you that our
constitution has provided for consensus. It has also provided for
election.
“For those of us who came from the
Peoples Democratic Party, we know the advantages and disadvantages of
primary election. However, if you look at it critically from 1999 to
2011, every election year, PDP was having primary, even when we had a
sitting President in 2003 and 2011, we had primary elections.
“All other parties were not doing
primary election in the actual sense of it. They sit down and look at
faces and say, ‘you, do this’; that is a guess work. Yes, maybe he is
number one here but when you go to the field, he may not be number one.
“That is why I am personally calling for
a consensus. However, if it doesn’t happen, I believe primary election
is so good for the party. We have seen that since we have quite a number
of aspirants, all of us are working; everybody is working very hard,
especially those of us from the PDP.”
Kwankwanso, who described Mark’s
leadership of the National Assembly as “powerful and responsible,” said
that though he had yet to formally declare his interest in the
presidential race, he was in the National Assembly to see the President
of the Senate, members and other officers of both chambers as part of
his consultation.
Kwankwaso said that Nigerians were tired
of the current administration at the federal level. He, therefore,
urged the senators to support his ambition in order to change the status
quo.
But Mark told Kwankwanso that he (Mark) would not support his presidential ambition on the platform of the APC.
Mark said, “It is completely impossible
for me to support you. Good as your wishes may be, I can’t grant them.
The PDP is the correct platform to contest election and I have always
advised the senators so. If you don’t make it in your new party, feel
free to come back to us because you have always belonged to this side.”
Source: Punch
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