Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso, the Presidential Candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), says Nigeria requires a leader with capacity to tackle its challenges.
Kwankwaso stated this at the presidential debate organised by Nigerian Elections Debate Group (NEDG) in collaboration with the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) in Abuja on Sunday.
Kwankwaso said that every sector of the country including education, infrastructure, economy, security among other needed attention.
He said that with the right leadership, especially at the top, Nigeria would be better.
“What Nigeria requires today, under our circumstances is the best person for the job.
“We have seen in the past, where many people supported their own person, and that person has no capacity the job, and we ended up, everybody regretting in this country.
“So we have seen the situation in the country. So, what we require in this country today is leader that will assemble the best hands and brains to tackle the issues head on,” he said.
Kwankwaso added, “And I believe within the shortest possible time, with good leadership in this country, we should be able to reach our goals.”
He said that Nigerians had not been lucky to have the best set of people in leadership positions, saying that the 2023 general election offered another opportunity for Nigerians to to elect the best people to lead them for the next four years.
The former governor of Kano State, described himself as the best candidate to be Nigeria’s next president.
Kwankwaso said he was well prepared in terms of integrity, capacity, love for the people and academic qualification.
“I am a well prepared person for the job. Everybody wants to be president or want to be governor and so on and so forth but the issue is, it is very difficult to get a well prepared candidate.
“Kwankwaso is not the type who is in a hurry to be president. In 2007, I was in the civil service for 17 years.
“I was the deputy speaker, House of Representatives; I was in the Constitutional Conference, I was Governor and I was a Minister of Defense. But I went back to Kano because I had uncompleted job.
“So, I believe today, in terms of qualification, in terms of even health, in terms of capacity, in terms of experience, of course,” he said.
Kwankwaso added, “The issue of integrity is very critical because that is what is lacking in most politicians in this country right from councillorship to the Presidency.
“It is not easy because to prepare yourself to be a candidate to beat you will need to do a lot of sacrifice.”
Kwankwaso said that he had been preparing himself for the job for past 47 years, made up of 17 years as a civil servant and 30 years as a politician.
“I thank almighty God that today I am standing and I believe Kwankwaso is the best candidate, I am the best person under our circumstances to be the president of Nigeria.
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP) were absent at the debate.