*Says his candidate won 2019 gubernatorial election
Laleye Dipo in Minna
The national leader of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, yesterday, said his victories in elections conducted in Kano State were attributable to his investment in education and the youth.
Kwankwaso, a former governor of the state, explained that, those he supported their education years ago were now those routing for him anytime he aspired for political position in the state and the country
Speaking as Chairman of the Pre-Inauguration Lecture in Minna, Niger State, Kwankwaso said, “In Kano State during my term as governor, I invested massively in education by sponsoring thousands of people to foreign universities for professional and other courses and established two state universities, many primary and secondary schools
“In 2019, these were the same youths that helped us to win the governorship at that time, but the leadership in the country imposed a leadership on us but we did not fight because we know there will be a rematch in 2023. We all know the results now.”
According to him, “Money is not everything. You can become governor and steal all that there is to steal, you can sell all the nooks and crannies of your state, you can sell the Mosque and Church land and pocket the proceeds, the end result is that the people you neglected will send you into a permanent political wilderness.”
The former governor, therefore, advised the incoming governors across the country to prioritise education, insisting that though the result might not show immediately, “those manpower will become your legacy and cornerstone tomorrow. I have left government for sometime now, yet, the youths are still standing by me.”
A former National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, in a presentation regretted that the quality of leadership in the country in the last 23 years has steadily deteriorated, saying Nigeria was currently facing a leadership crisis occasioned by bad governance.
Jega said from 1999 to date, bad leadership and lack of good governance have been responsible for the failing expectations and aspirations of Nigerians, stressing that good governance was supposed to be driven by selfless and visionary leaders, who will address the needs and aspirations of the people.
Outgoing Governor of Niger State, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, in his remarks thumbed down for officials of Ministries Departments and Agencies for their lack of capacities before asking the incoming governor, Alhaji Umar Mohammed Bago, to select people with good characters to help in the administration of the state.
