Kwankwaso Condemns National Confab, Says Jonathan Is Planning Life Presidency

The Governor of Kano State, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, at the weekend condemned the ongoing National Conference, describing it as a scheme inaugurated by President Goodluck Jonathan to stay in power.

Speaking with a journalist of The Nation in his office at the Government House, the governor alleged that Jonathan brought a new constitution into the conference with the intention of making himself a life President after using divide-and-rule tactics to cause division among delegates.

According to him, if Jonathan’s agenda scaled through, he would get another eight-year mandate in 2015, in the bid to perpetrate himself in power and achieve his life ambition.

“These people are desperate. They want to continue by all means. That is the idea of divide-and-rule. They want to rule forever. I think he (Jonathan) wants to be a life President,” Kwankwaso said.

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Kwankwaso, who expressed doubts about most of the issues debated so far at the conference said: “You have seen recently that he (Jonathan) took a bill to the National Assembly, wanting the National Assembly to approve a six-year one term. The implication is that he wanted to lift himself. He got two years after the death of (Umaru Musa) Yar’Adua. Now, he is spending four years. And he wants another six years of one term, making 12 years, at least, for now. That seems not to be working. Now, we are hearing that they smuggled a new Constitution through the Conference.

“The arithmetic of the handlers there is saying that they want to throw away the six years, have a new Constitution and, by 2015, start another eight years. This is because we have seen it during the first term of the governors of Yobe, Taraba, Ogun, Kogi. These were friends who were governors during the aborted Third Republic and people took them to court so that they regained their first term. The courts said: ‘No, no, no, this is a new Constitution.’ Now, there is a new Constitution on the ground to start another eight years by 2015,” he said.

The governor noted that the country needs transformation, and that Nigerians should continue to pray for the President to safely relinquish power in 2015. He also urged Nigerians to pray against any crisis that might degenerate into a religious war.

Kwankwaso, however, insisted that he had always opposed the National Conference because it was a waste of resources, adding that Nigeria needs an equitable distribution of its vast resources to its underprivileged citizens.

Kwankwaso further claimed that the Conference would be harmful to the country because it was designed to extend the President’s tenure from the proposed single term to eight years by 2015, noting that if the new constitution is endorsed, it would empower Jonathan to extend his tenure.

The governor alleged that Jonathan’s main aim of setting up the National Conference was to transform into a life President, adding that he has concentrated his prosecutions on the All Progressives Congress (APC) because he plans to destabilise it in order to achieve his ambition of becoming a life President.

He said the President had concentrated his prosecutions on the APC with the aim to destabilise it to achieve his ambition of becoming a life President, and pointed out the constant interference “from above”, particularly in Rivers, Adamawa and, lately, in Kano.

Kwankwaso cited how the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) announced its candidate as the Emir of Kano, how the party had portrayed Adamawa State Governor Murtala Nyako as a bad person, and how it has continuously rejected state police which he (Kwankwaso) and his River State counterpart, Rotimi Amaechi had earlier called for.

The governor said the ruling party is scared of the APC, that’s why it always blames the party’s leadership for anything that goes wrong in the country.

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On the issue of insurgency, Kwankwaso, stated that Jonathan had failed as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and advised the federal government to either dialogue with the extremist or use any force necessary to put an end to their activities.

He urged Nigerians to be their brother’s keeper, adding that they should help their compatriots instead of debating resource control and derivation.

“I do not see anything wrong in the revenue sharing formula of the country, rather than agitating for an upward review from 13 per cent to 18 per cent, which is the contentious issue tearing the house apart,” he said. “This stoppage should either be by negotiation or by the use of force on any of them. I tell you that most of the confusion is coming from Mr President’s handlers, the people around him, just to cause more problems.”

Source: Legit.ng