Hon Muqtar Umar Zakari is the former Special Adviser to Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the Presidential candidate of New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and also candidate for Federal House of Representatives for Tarauni Federal constituency, Kano State in the 2023 general elections. He had also served as the Executive Chairman of Tarauni Local Government, Kano between 2014-2017. In this interview with Rulers’ World News Media, Muqtar speaks on the chances of NNPP to take over from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023. He speaks with Oyedapo Oyewole. Excerpts.
As a politician, how do you view the situation in the country under President Muhammadu Buhari led administration?
Well, what I will tell you now is that the President MuhammaduBuhari government has failed in terms of its responsibility. Responsibility of the government is to protect the lives and properties of its citizens and also in terms of the economy. You can see how the Naira is falling and the dollar is skyrocketing. Nobody is happy this time around and we are praying to God that this 2023 we will get leaders that will be able to restructure Nigeria, put it in a sound place and we are hoping that Eng. Musa Kwankwaso will be the man to do that job because he is healthy, he has the ability, capacity and experience of national politics.
Some people are of the opinion that your party, NNPP, is relatively new and they wonder what magic it wants to perform to win the 2023 general elections.
APC was new when it took over in 2015… (Cuts in)
…But many political parties fused together to form it then
Even this NNPP is a formation of various political parties because people are leaving PDP and APC to join NNPP, like in Kano you see His Excellency Dr Mallam Ibrahim Sekarau has left. Hon. Tao Ismaila has left, Hon. Kabiru has left, Hon. Jobihas left not to talk of the people that are already in the party with Engr. Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso. Go to Kaduna we have people like Sheikh Ahmad Tijani, we have people like Senator Suleiman Mubi, Hon.Shehu ABG, we have people like Hon. Mabu and so on. Many of them have left APC and joined NNPP. I am more concerned with those in Kano but I know a lot of people have left APC and PDP to join NNPP and they are still leaving.
How sellable is the Engr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso presidential bid especially from the north where you came from?
Engineer Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is like a new bride that everybody likes and loves to associate with because he has demonstrated what he can do in Kano in terms of delivering dividends of democracy. People are ready to vote for him because they have seen what he has done and his antecedents in the various political positions he has held over time. So we don’t have any fear that Engineer Musa Kwankwaso will scale through.
Engr Rabiu Kwankwaso’s successor in Kano State, Dr. UmarAbdullahi Ganduje is a strong ally of the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, are you not worried that his alliance with Tinubu may affect the chance of Kwankwaso in Kano State?
That will not affect us because Kwankwaso is the most popular candidate in the North, so Ganduje supporting Tinubu is not our problem, we will work hard and win.
Religion is being used by different political parties and politicians as a strategy to canvass the electorates for the presidential election. What is your view on this?
We have never used religion as our shield; we are politicians because we are Nigerians and we have something to offer. Religion is our personal view and we are trying very hard to see that we operate under the context of religion so that we will not cause the wrath of God. But we are in politics because politics is not part of religion, it can be part of religion but we are not in politics because of religion or tribes.
Insecurity is ravaging the whole country in forms of banditry, kidnapping, terrorism and so on; do you think your party will be able to tackle all these if it emerges the winner in the next year election?
Well, by the grace of God, when Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso gets to the office, that issue will become history because most of these things are coupled with Food security, educational security, job security and lots of other things. If you provide a job for everybody, who will go out and join banditry? If you provide a job for everybody who will go out and be hiding in the bush? When people are given education and they have a level playing field to get a job to pursue their businesses in a good environment, why should there be armed robbery or banditry? This insecurity is part of the incapacity and inability of the government to deliver on its mandate and campaign promises it made during the election to the people of Nigeria. So if this government is out, the next government that will be formed by the NNPP will be able to take care of these issues.
But some people actually supported President MuhammaduBuhari with the hope that he would be able to tame insecurity because of his background as a military man but he disappointed these people, then how do you think that somebody like Dr Kwankwaso will succeed in this aspect if given the opportunity?
Well, Dr Kwankwaso was a Minister of Defense, what he has done in that ministry, no Army Officer has done it and with what he has done in Kano in terms of security, we believe he can do it. Most people that thought Buhari can do it thought so not because they have seen him doing it when he was the military Head of State because no enough time for people to understand him very well then because his government was overthrown, now, all Nigerians have understood why he was overthrown at that time, so you can’t compare Engineer Kwankwaso with President Muhammadu Buhari, come next year Engineer Kwankwaso will do much better and you will thank me for telling you this.
But with the way things are going on now don’t you think that this issue of insecurity can be a threat to the conduct of the election in 2023?
We are praying that things should get better before the election, that’s all I can say because this is something that has not come and I cannot talk about it.
Can you share with us some of the agenda of Dr Kwankwasounder the NNPP?
The blueprint of the team work of Dr Kwankwaso has not been revealed yet but certainly I know he will turn around the country, he will provide security, he will unite the country and he will do all he can to make sure that all children that are supposed to be in school are in school. He will make sure that education gets priority attention in this country that is what I know but in the next few weeks, the policy framework will be out and you will see the details.
Vote buying is gradually becoming a norm in Nigeria’s political system, how can this be eradicated as Nigerians are preparing for the 2023 general elections?
One, there is a legislation on that, the police and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should impose that on the candidates that anybody that violates Electoral Acts on that issue should be punished. That is one. Secondly, by mass voter card register, if fifty million people have registered, how many millions or billions are you going to spend to buy all those fifty million voters to vote for you? So that is it.
