The Masses Appreciate What We Are Doing-Gov Ganduje

The 2019 general elections is around the corner and alignments realignments are taking place in the polity. Are you sure that All Progressives Congress (APC) will still retain Kano State?

Yes, I am very much confident that Kano is for President Muhammadu Buhari; Kano is for APC and APC is for Kano. If you look at the history of the development of political parties, especially progressive parties, you can see that right from the beginning, there will be a coalition, a conglomeration of so many interest groups, but later on, you will see that those who don’t share the same ideology will start falling out.

We can say that every civilisation has its own Medieval Period, therefore, APC had its own Medieval Period by coming together with all different kinds of elements. But, as time goes on now, you will see that the bad elements are already exiting, leaving behind people with the same idea; people with the same ideology; people with the same hope for the development of this country.

So, that translates to what is happening in Kano State. We think that APC is growing stronger and stronger because now we are not a mixture; we are a compound and we are solid. But before, we were a mixture of grains and stones and impurities. Now we have a pure followership in Kano State.

Are you not threatened by the exit of your predecessor, Senator RabiuKwankwaso and others form the party?

No, I’m not threatened. Rather, I am being strengthened by his exit because our people now know that we are facing one direction without any anticipation of anti-party activities. We also believe that the corrupt elements among us are already out. So I also believe we are growing stronger because the masses appreciate what we are doing.

With the gale of defections, do you think that political parties in Nigeria have ideologies?

Well, I think that our own political party has an ideology. If you look at how we are moving against corruption; how we are moving towards improving the economy of this country by fighting corruption and by doing what we are supposed to be doing, I think that is the beginning of an ideology for a political party.

What about the exit of your deputy? Are you also not threatened by that move?

I am not threatened because like I told you, it is part of the same story. We are happy that the impurities created by the magnanimity of politics.

Well, in my mind, I’ll miss him as a long time friend. I have been saying that my politics won’t be complete without him and his own politics will not be complete without me. But if you understand his ego-centric attitude, I cannot afford to follow him from one party to another. All that he is looking for is an opportunity to contest for the presidential election.

When he saw that he could not contest against President Goodluck Jonathan, he had to convince us to walk out of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and come to APC. While in APC, in order to exhibit his inner mind, he contested against Buhari at the primary in 2014.

Now, he has seen that he cannot contest against Buhari because he is the incumbent; he cannot contest against the incumbent, he has decided to move out to a party that has no sitting president to contest the next election. So, you can see him and you know, I cannot be a nomadic politician to be following him in his zig-zag kind of approach to politics.