Ahead of the December 10 rerun election in Rivers State, the Chairman of state All Progressives Congress (APC) rerun election Campaign Committee, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, on Friday said that it will be easy for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to have a free and fair elections in Rivers State and the southern part of the country.
Ganduje, however said that everything will be done to change the trend and have free and fair elections in the state. He spoke with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. He said: “We are prepared, we just came out of the Ondo elections, we have fresh ideas, even though both environments are different, but we have our own strategies.
Like in Ondo State, we must ensure we have a free and fair election. “You know that in that part of the country, having a free and fair election is not normal and we have to make it normal this time. We must ensure that there is security, so that the people will come out and vote.
That’s our main preoccupation at the moment. We are making wider consultations with stakeholders and we believe we will succeed,” he said. He said he was at the Villa to brief the President on the security situation in Kano, especially the fallout from the north western part of the country, where some Boko Haram members and Kidnappers are fighting to dominate the forest. He said: “They came back from Sambisa forest so that they can be operating from another part of the north western part of the country. So, the security agencies are working very hard.
A lot of arrests have been made and investigation is going on. “We won’t allow them to dominate Kano and make it as a launching pad, since the cosmopolitan city of Kano is an attractive place for such elements to come in. The security agencies have apprehended about three or four of them,” he stated According to him, the President is happy with the situation in the state.
On economic the summit between Lagos and Kano, he said: “We appointed a technical committee. It is working on that, and we are examining the business relationship between Lagos and Kano. We take advantage each state is having and we will invite Mr President to the summit.
“The summit will hold in Kano. The governor of Lagos State has agreed it should hold in Kano. There are similarities between Lagos and Kano, both are mega cities. Lagos is the largest commercial city in Nigeria while Kano is the largest commercial city in the north. “We are both cosmopolitan and our developmental challenges are the same in terms of providing social amenities, security, urbanization.
There is a need to look inward now that money is going down so we need to take comparative advantage of both states. Reacting to the claim that having free and fair elections in Rivers is abnormal, the state governor, Nyesom Wike said elections in the state have been normal.
“It is unfortunate if he said so. As far as I am concerned, elections have been normal in my part of the country. All we are asking for is free and fair election. “Is Governor Ganduje speaking on behalf of INEC? Is he the one conducting the elections now?, he queried. He added: “I have respect for him as an elderly person, but his statement is unfortunate. “When his friend won the governorship election in Rivers State, the election was normal. The election was also normal in Edo State where his party won. “We are waiting for him to come and perform the magic he did in Kano State,” Wike stated
