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The governor of Kano State, Rabi’u Kwankwaso, will on Tuesday formally declare his interest in the 2015 presidential race on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The governor’s media aide, Jaafar Jaafar, who disclosed this to PREMIUM TIMES, Monday, said the event will hold in Abuja and would be attended by dignitaries.
Mr. Kwankwaso was a member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, until last November when he and four other governors defected to APC. He will leave office in May 2015.
He was governor between 1999 and 2003 and also served as deputy speaker of the House of Representatives in the botched Third Republic.
After leaving office in 2003, he was appointed defence minister by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Two other presidential aspirants on the party’s platform have already declared their intention to seek APC ticket to contest the February 14 election.
While former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, declared publicly October, a former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, did so earlier on September 24.
Another aspirant, Sam Nda-Isaiah, founder of the Leadership newspaper, will declare his aspiration on November 4, his campaign handlers said at the weekend.
Mr. Jaafar said Mr. Kwankwaso, 58, has no plan to step down for any of the aspirants, including the more popular Messrs. Buhari and Abubakar, because he believes he has an edge over them.
“I don’t think he is going to step down for any of them,” he told PREMIUM TIMES. “Rather he wants others to step down for him. This is because age is on his side and his achievements speak for him. I mean his current and previous achievements as governor, minister, member of the Constituent Assembly and deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.”
He said Mr. Kwankwaso, an engineer, wishes to put Nigeria back on track and insists that his aspiration to rule could not be compared to those others.
Stating that the governor was keen on participating in the APC presidential primary election, Mr. Jaafar argued that if the party wants to make progress, it should hand over the ticket to him.
“Democracy entails that everybody be given a chance, however, if the party wants to progress, it should allow keen contest among the aspirants. It will help to build the party,” he said.