Vanguard
By Levinus Nwabughiogu, ABUJA
Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is a grassroots politician. His support base across the country swarms with people of all faith and classes. He’s bold and courageous. He has an enviable profile in politics and public service. First, he served in Kano State Civil Service for 17 years. Upon his departure, he joined partisan politics.
In 1992, he was elected into the House of Representatives where he became the Deputy Speaker. At the return of democracy in 1999, after a long military interregnum, he was elected the governor of Kano State. In 2003, he was appointed the Minister of Defense. In 2011, he was re-elected governor to serve a second term in Kano.
At the point of exiting office in 2015, Kwankwaso squared up with President Muhammadu Buhari for the All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential ticket. He was later elected senator to represent Kano Central. Kwankwaso was, up till 2015, a member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, when he left the party for APC.
In 2018, he returned to the PDP to contest the presidential ticket with former Vice President Abubakar Atiku among others. As the 2023 general elections inch close, he told Sunday Vanguard, in an exclusive interview, that he may run again. Kwankwaso also x-rayed the polity and the current government on many fronts and gave his thoughts, pointing out the many mistakes of the Buhari government. Excerpts:
