—advuses APC to adopt“Constitution of Common Sense,”
Former Governor of Kano state and Senator representing Kano Central Senatorial District, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, on Sunday declared that his predecessor at the Senate, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso remains his friend, despite their political differences.
Shekarau, former presidential candidate of All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) who succeeded Kwankwaso at the Senate in 2019, said he has no personal grudges against Kwankwaso, insisting that, “we are best of friends.”
Shekarau stated this while responding to questions from journalists during a Media Interactive Session held in Kano.
According to him, “I and Kwankwaso are best of friends. My relationship with Kwankwaso has been cordial. We did not leave APC because Kwankwaso came in, we did not leave PDP because Kwankwaso came in. No! We left because of the (wrong) decision by the party leadership.
“It was wrong that just because Kwankwaso came, the PDP national leadership decided to dissolve the Kano Exco, even when the case was in court.
” We said no! You can be a party man without being the party leader. So, it is not because of Kwankwaso. We have been best of friends, never mind the periodic outburst.
” Kwankwaso and I are best of friends, though we may have differences in political ideology.”
Shekarau also cleared the air on rumours that he and Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has fallen apart.
According to him, “my relationship with Ganduje has been very cordial, as a former Governor and a former public officer. I have known Ganduje even before I became governor. I was a Permanent Secretary when Ganduje was a Commissioner during the Military era.
“During the campaign in 2019, we were always together. Now, you may not be seeing us always together because they have sent me to Abuja where I am representing my people.”
The former Minister of Education who insisted he has no reason to fall out with Ganduje also commented on the need for the All Progressive Congress (APC) to allow somebody from the South-east to fly the presidential flag in 2023.
Though Shekarau pointed out that APC constitution does not spell out rotational presidency or zoning, he advised his party to adopt the “Constitution of Common Sense,” whereby the principles of fairness and justice to all will be upheld.
He noted that, “the guiding principle is fairness and justice to all. I am not talking about zoning, what I am talking about is balancing the equation.
” Today in Nigeria, there is no state that does not have hundreds of capable presidential candidates. Obasanjo was president—did he change the lives of the entire Yoruba people? Jonathan was President, did he change the lives of the entire Bayelsa people? Today, Buhari is the President, is he changing the lives of the entire Daura people? No! So, it is not a matter of where you come from.”
Shekarau who is a member of the Ad-hoc Committee on Constitution review representing the North-west, also hinted that by April this year, Nigeria will have a new Electoral Law that will deal with all the bottlenecks the country has encountered in her electoral system
