Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso, Kano state Governor on thursday changed his mindon the use of consensus arrangement as the mode of determining the presidential of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). He had earlier this week, said that the arrangement would not produce a good result but he now seem to have changed his mind.
He said this when he visited the Senate to canvass for the support of members of his party in the house said he would not mind a consensus arrangement if that would produce a credible candidate.
“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 has been a strong critic of the PDP government in the last couple of month, however commended Senate President, David Mark. He 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.
Senate President, David Mark however told Kwankwaso that he cannot support his presidential ambition telling him the PDP is the correct platform to contest.
“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.”
Kwankwaso is yet to pick the APC presidential nomination ticket while his major opponents, General Muhammadu Buhari and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar have picked up the forms.
