The National Chairman of the National Unity Party (NUP), Chief Perry Opara, has declared that former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, appears more’ favoured to win the 2019 presidential election if he decides to run under the platform of the NUP.
This permutation is predicated on the fact that Kwankwaso is said to be the only Nigerian politician today that has the strongest political movement, the Kwankwasiyya Movement, which is comparable to the much respected defunct People’s Front of Nigeria (PFN) of the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. Kwankwaso is said to be nursing the ambition to dethrone President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.
Opara told our correspondent on Thursday that defeating President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 is a difficult task, which requires the personality and clout of Kwankwaso to accomplish, adding that anyone that dismisses Buhari in 2019 is naïve.
“Buhari has a cult-like followership in the far north while Senator Kwankwaso has the strongest political movement that cuts across the nation. If Kwankwaso decides to run for Presidency in 2019 under the NUP and if he decides to take his Vice Presidential candidate from the South particularly a devout Christian, humble, popular and young, he will win 2019 presidential election,” Opara said.
The Kwankwasiyya, a name derived from the root name of Kwankwaso is a grassroots political brand that has swept through the federation like wild fire cutting across different strata of the nation. Its political essence is said to be in its broad-based philosophy anchored on good governance and participatory democracy under the leadership of Kwankwaso.
Opara noted further that Kwankwaso can be trusted with power stressing that “Senator Kwankwaso talks less with a calm disposition, less controversial and he does more work than he talks. He respects the old, the young and the aged and flows freely with both genders. I am convinced that if he makes the right decision both in choosing the party to run and choosing the right Vice Presidential candidate, he will make a difference.
He warned that anyone that dismisses President Buhari in 2019 is naïve stressing that “President Buhari is more popular than APC. The downtrodden in the far- north still see Buhari as a demi-god, so to defeat him in an election is not going to be easy.
To defeat Buhari in 2019 Opara said “We need a man that can divide the votes in the north, get some from the South West, and win heavily in the South East and South -South and gets the second largest votes in the states of the federation, which Ndigbo can provide.”
When asked what if Kwankwaso does not use the NUP, Chief Opara has this to say, “it means he has to remain in APC and get the ticket of the APC if he wants to be the President. The NUP is the best brand which time has come. Everybody is talking about national unity, division, peace and progress. So the best party is the NUP not a congress. We need a national party that can unite Nigeria,” he added.
The Kwankwasiyya movement is today being courted by all known political heavy weights in the country in Kano state, other northern states and also in the South West, South South and a very big presence in the South East. The movement has acquired an amazing fanatical followership teeming with millions of supporters. The Movement is said to be a testament to Kwankwaso’s organizational skill and forceful personality derived from years of grassroots participation and brilliant performance in the most populous state in the country.
It will be recalled that when Kwankwaso and some aggrieved members of the PDP left the party to join the APC, the PDP was left decrepit and eventually crumbled in the 2015 presidential election.
Although the two-time former Governor Kano state, is still a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and has not declared his intentions to run for the Presidency, there are strong indications that Kwankwaso is increasingly becoming disenchanted with the APC and may soon dump the party which no doubts will cause ripples in the ruling party because of the massive exodus it may cause.
The coalition of political parties led by Opara is waiting on the wings to exploit the qualities of Kwankawso and have wooed him with seductive offers to run as they have perfected the ground for him to run under their platform.
The Former Defence Minister and now a serving senator representing Kano Central, is said to be equipped with the cosmopolitan outlook, which the Nigerian citizens desire desperately especially this time that the nation appears polarized along ethnic and religious line.
