By Aliyu Abdulwahid
The presidential candidate of the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) Rabiu Kwankwaso says the redesign of the naira banknotes has made all candidates for political office poor.
Kwankwaso added that now that he and his opponents are in the same financial position, it will be easy for him to win the election.
Kwankwaso, speaking during a broadcast on Dandal Kura Radio in Maiduguri, Borno state, on Wednesday, said people ridiculed him for not being rich to run for the presidency.
He said the federal government’s redesign policy has made everyone, including his rivals in the presidential race, poor.
“We have heard people ridicule me saying that Rabiu Kwankwaso has no money (for the campaign) today the president has made us all poor in the race. So we are all poor and now equal,” Kwankwaso said in Hausa.
Speaking about his chances, Kwankwaso said he demonstrated his ability when he served two terms as governor, minister and senator.
He said Nigerians would not vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) or the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) because the parties have nothing new to offer.
Kwankwaso, a former defense minister, also ridiculed Atiku Abubakar, the PDP’s presidential candidate, saying he once won a presidential race against the former vice president.
He said he would easily beat Atiku because he did so in the 2014 APC presidential primary, when they all lost to President Muhammadu Buhari.
“In 2015 (sic), I ran for the presidential (APC) ticket, Muhammadu Buhari defeated me, but I defeated Atiku Abubakar,” he said.
On January 27 this year, Kwankwaso said that he did not believe the redesign of the naira was intended to disrupt the ambition of APC candidate Bola Tinubu as claimed by leading APC members. He told Arise News during an interview that Mr. Tinubu was simply looking for an excuse for the impending loss of him during the survey.
“I’m not sure if that’s correct. I’m not sure if that’s not a defense. We were very suspicious of that statement (Tinubu said the redesign of naira was aimed at sabotaging it) because as far as we know we have seen the President (Buhari) all the other ministers and everyone campaigning for him (Tinubu) or for your party. Now for him to come and make this statement seems ridiculous to me,” he said.
However, Kwankwaso said that the new naira policy is bad for the country.
“All I know is that (the naira redraw policy) is not good for the country. Nigerians deserve to live in peace with the love of their leaders. But inflicting any hardship on the Nigerians, I think is not good even for the leaders themselves.
