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Ex-KANO Gov. MUSA KWANKWASO Opens Up
Without doubt, one of the biggest political juggernauts from the North today is the NNPP power house and presidential candidate at the last presidential election, Senator Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. He is one of the most revered northern politicians who commands massive following, particularly wih his very well coordinated and non violent followership called the Kwankwasiyya.
It is a political movement that has drawn commendations and given thumbs up by the high and mighty for the impressive manner they always conduct themselves even when they are aggrieved over issues that appear unfavourable to them. No matter how provoked they get, they follow the strict instructions of their leader, Senator Musa Kwankwaso, who totally abhors violence. They will never go contrary to his ideologies and what he stands for.
On Saturday 8th, February, 2025 Kwankwaso was the Chairman at the 60th birthday ceremony of his running mate at the last presidential election, Archbishop Designate Isaac Idahosa. The event took place at the prestigious Sheraton Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos. Kwankwaso flew in from Kano State to attend. The two are very close. When it was time for him to speak, he congratulated the celebrant, before going political with his speech. He talked about how he transformed Kano State during his time as governor and why Kano youths helped him win his re-election bid in 2011. Below are excerpts of the speech.
Let me start by thanking Almighty God for giving us this opportunity to be here to celebrate our own, our brother, our friend, our colleague, somebody that I feel so good to have met some years ago. And that was when I had an opportunity to look for a good Nigerian, somebody who would join us and form a group, a committee similar to what the keynote speaker mentioned, when he talked about the team he met in London, I wish he was here to tell him that he was actually campaigning for us. Maybe when we are set to go for campaigns again, we may consider him by making him our campaign director because we believe that we have all that it takes, especially going by our performances in the past, to deliver.
Bishop Isaac Idahosa, congratulations for attending attaining this special age. I believe it is not only the figure that matters, but what you have done for humanity. I believe you have done enough. You have gotten the pass mark and nobody can take that away from you. We see you as one of us any day, any time because we believe you are a good man. You are the sort of Nigerian that should be supported in all your endeavours.
At this point, let me thank the Governor Umar Bago of Niger State because immediately he was elected, before he was even sworn in, he invited me to Niger State to tell them what we did in Kano. Most of them already knew, but more importantly, they wanted to know how we did it. He brought in everyone who is important in Niger States, the Ulama, clergies, traditional rulers, politicians, his deputy governor, and everybody. And he gave me an opportunity to explain to them what we have done, especially in the area of education, infrastructure, agriculture, health, and so on and so forth. Now, it’s almost two years. I can comfortably say that Governor Bago, as far as you are concerned, you have your pass mark.
And at this point, I want to appeal to all our governors across the country to acknowledge people who have done well. For those of us who have started in 1999 as governors, we hardly remember many things of the Second Republic. Of course, that republic which I was part of as Deputy Speaker of the House of Reps, we had very limited time. So our governors stayed for a very short period of time, and therefore there was very little to learn. Now from 1999 to date, it’s a reasonable time, in fact a long time. And there are so many governors in all the states and those who have an opportunity to be governors now and in the future, must try and do their best.
Many people think accumulating wealth is the answer. I never believed in that. What is important is performance. It was just announced by the M.C. that in four years, we sponsored over 3,000 young men and women to 14 countries across the world. We selected private universities, like Accra University, in those four years, we sent over 400, Delphi University, over 300. So also, Crescent University, over 300. Even in collegiate universities, over 300. Amti in Adamawa, over 25 and so on and so forth.
So the idea was to ensure that the son of the poor should go and sit side by side with the sons and daughters of the rich. And so we established two private universities, state universities. Established 26 institutes to train and retrain our young men and women. And I can comfortably tell you that at the end of my tenure, there was no single person with university qualification that wanted to go to the university who was not given that opportunity to go and be under our 100% scholarship, either within or outside the country. Now, if you ask me now, what did I gain? I can tell you I gained so much because these kwankwasiyya you are seeing, people are taking it for granted. You’ve got to come in, it’s a very serious issue.
You remember, in 2003, I lost the election in Kano because Buhari came, everybody wanted Buhari. He was president, I was supporting Obasanjo. Many of the governors, our colleagues, they were saying, vote for Buhari, and vote for me when it comes to governorship. And Chief Obasanjo, for whatever reason, decided to put presidential and gubernatorial elections the same day. So, then came the confusion, everybody was saying Buhari, Buhari, and I lost the election. I was just laughing. I knew he was going to win. I went out, came back, contested. It was just my humble self, the young men and women that we gave free lunch throughout my tenure, those we gave uniforms, free education, and so on and so forth, they came out en masse and voted for me again.
And you know, by 2015, I selected my Deputy Governor and presented him as my successor. He won the election. Of course, we know what happened. He changed all what we were doing. He thought we were not a good leader, he was doing the opposite. In 2019, there was no single senator, no single house of reps, no single Chairman, no single local councilor, all the 484 were owned by him.
Even my brother here from Lagos, my colleague, was sending so much money to him to support his party. What happened in 2019? These young men and women who were coming from all over the world because our scholarship was such that go to so and so country, if you finish and you get a job, you want to come back, fine, you want to stay there, no problem. If you want to come back, come back, automatic employment is waiting for you. Now the Emekas, he was talking about, you go around this country, especially in Northern Nigeria, all the Balas and all sorts of names that have taken over.
Just now I was asking somebody who came to my hotel from Federal University in Jigawa. I said, how many are you there, scholars, we call them scholars? He said, we are over one hundred and fifty teaching in the Federal University. I’m not talking about ABU, and all other institutions today in Northern Nigeria, even in the south, they are all there. So I can tell you, that its always good to be good. I don’t need to have billions or trillions, because that’s why I live in peace. I don’t have billions. I don’t have it, I don’t have anything. I won’t boast of saying I have billions. But I can tell you, my billions are in the pockets of those young men and women that were being trained. Many of them are professors all over the world. Many of them are very senior businessmen and women.
And that is why in 2023, I’m sure you know, we pitched our tent in a small party, nobody was giving us any chance. But I knew, I would at least get Kano. At least. And that’s what we did. There was nothing they did not do in the other parties to get Kano. And you’d be surprised, I left PDP to form this party. Abba, the governor now, who was my PA, scored over one million and twenty-nine thousand. The PDP got 15,000. And these are the people who were bragging, believing that they are are big politicians in Kano and in Nigeria. So, Governor Bago, you’re on the right track. You have done the right thing. You don’t have to be a sitting governor to be a governor. I have left since my days in the Senate in 2015. I’m jobless. But I can tell you, the crowd is still there. If we keep NNPP now and ask you to give me any party, by the grace of God, wherever they know us, we will do well. And some people believe we are popular in Kano, in North West, in northern Nigeria, yes. But why? The reason is simple. Because they know us. They know what we have done. They know our capacity and capability. They know our mission and ambition. All those things put together are what stand for Kwankwasiyya.
Many people think, northerners and southerners are fools. Nobody is a fool. All these young men and women who are wearing these caps, don’t think they are fools. Don’t think they are forced to do it. They are very proud members of Kwankwasiyya. And I can tell you, if you like, get one of the caps for yourself. Even in Lagos, even in Abuja, even in Enugu. Go to any checkpoint if you have one, no member of the Nigerian military will say a bad thing against us, because they have seen our capacity. In fact, many officers now, at least from the rank of Lieutenant colonel now, have one or two things to say we have done to support them. So governor, you have an opportunity, please use it. You don’t have to put a red cap, keep your own white cap. I can assure you that if you continue to do your work, as I told you that day, it’s not only your deputy governor or your commissioners who will put it on.
All these young men, you see many of them who were in primary school when I was governor in 1999, but they benefitted from it. And they appreciate it. And they want to get somebody who will come and do what we have done. And if they are given an opportunity again, they will do the same. That’s why we are very happy with the governor of Kano today because he is executing our program. But then we have to learn what to compare because people who benefit will come and vote for themselves.
