 It's time for some ministers to resign, says the NNPP presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwonguoso, and youth candidacy drops 6% ahead of the 2023 elections, says Yaga Africa. This is Plus Politics, and I am Mary Anna Cohen. A president under normal circumstances should surround himself with competent people. These were the words of the presidential candidates of the new Nigeria People's Party NNPP. According to him, Nigerians have to put aside their issue of sentiment and must be careful in the coming 2023 elections. Speaking on the state of the nation, the presidential candidate said there are enough resources in the country to take care of everyone, and this is evident in Kanu state. In a one-on-one session with the NNPP presidential candidate, Senator Rabiu Kwonguoso discussed the upcoming elections and the party's level of preparation. Take a listen. Senator Rabiu Kwonguoso is so good to have you join us on this show today. Thank you very much. I have spoken with you before we started the campaign, and of course I did ask you why anybody would want to be the president of this country, knowing that we have problems on every side. If Nigeria were to be a circle and we tossed the pen everywhere the pen face would have one problem or the other, but it's very incredible when people say they want to run this country. But let's talk about the campaign seasons. We've seen that the PDP had kicked out of their campaigns on Monday, and we're yet to hear from the NNPP, but you are in Lagos today, inaugurating some campaign offices. Let's start from there. Thank you very much. Let me start by thanking Almighty God for making it possible for us to be here in Lagos today, and it is also an opportunity for me to thank all our members, members of the New Nigeria People's Party and NNPP who ride from the airport where they are early in the morning to receive me and members of my entourage were taken to the venue, to the office, and we were pleasantly surprised to see thousands and thousands. Some people are saying good fraction of a million people in that venue, and we thank Almighty God. The office has been officially opened, and I had some meetings with some stakeholders, and the meeting will continue through the night to look at the situation in Lagos, and even in the southwest in general. I'm happy to say that our strategy is working. First and foremost, we have succeeded in showing a lot of presence in all the northern states. We have gone very deep and white in northern states as expected, and now we are now coming into the south. So far in the north, we were able to open our offices in all the states except Zamfara, Yobi, and of course Jigawa. These are states that are around Kano itself, and very soon we will go and open the offices and ensure that all offices at words, local governments and states are there in touch. Might I ask why the three states are yet to be opened since they actually surround parents? No, you see normally we go with the circumstances in the states. Some of the states were able to get the offices on time from the words up to the state level. Some states are working on it, and therefore we always agree with the state on the issue of date of visiting those states. But in any case, there will always be number one, and there will be number last if you like in when you start this campaign. Now the issue of candidates starting the campaign, you see many people don't even understand politics. Politics is not a one-day affair. You just don't wake up just overnight and say you are a politician or you are starting a campaign. Our campaign has been on at least in the last 30 years. 30 years ago, I was deputy speaker house of representatives. I was in the consulate conference from 1994 to 95. I was governor of Kano, 1999, 2003, minister of defense for the second term of Siv Oleshega Mubasebdo. And of course, I was senator of the federal republic. I was in the NDDC, representing the Northwest. And I was also advisor to president under Fulhan Somalia when they had those issues. So our campaign is continuous. We may decide to receive my flag and that of my running mate. We don't want to be a colorful ceremony, but campaign for us is day in, day out. And that's why by the grace of God we are able to establish a huge, huge goodwill across the country. And many people, if you ask them even the cryptics, they will say, oh, it's Kano. Others will say, oh, he's Northwest. Others will say, oh, he's North. But whatever the case, you can see the pattern of the support. When you say Kano, Kano, people will say it just casually. It's a huge blessing. But that's just one state out of 36 states of the federation. And of course, you know that Nigeria, mother never is very invited, especially for this election. So I think I should ask you, how do we tend to blur those lines? Because it looks more like to be out on looker that this election is more of original election. We're seeing candidates representing regions as opposed to representing Nigeria. I am not representing region. I am representing Nigeria. And that is why you can see wherever we go, you may think that is where our strength is. We have been to some states in the South. We were in Cross River. We were in Delta. We were in Aqai Bo. We were here and in fact, we are now in Lagos. And many other states, especially Ohio State, I was there a couple of times since joining the NNPP. And all other states, if we go there, you may think that is the home of NNPP. And that's how it should be. So we thank Nigerians for the support. Of course, they are not doing it just for nothing. Our support is solid. It's organic in the sense that it's based on our antecedents, it's based on our performance, not interviews or telelikes or using social media or even conventional media. We make very little noise about what we have done. In fact, we very much rely on the very old Lucas you mentioned. They are the ones selling us across the country. And sometimes we feel very happy by people under rating our party or the candidates. We just move in. And I think as we are moving, fortunately or unfortunately, we are beginning to cognize that NNPP, for many obvious reasons, is the party to beat. Because we in our group believe that the three other parties that people talk about have reached their climates. They have reached their peak. There is nothing, nothing PDP or APC or any other party will do between now and February to challenge fortune. Nothing. It is, yes, it is the NNPP that is a growing party. All those people and goodwill that other parties are losing are certainly coming to NNPP. That's why it's the fastest growing party. Others have reached their peak. And we are happy that they did because we have their history, we were in those parties. And it was because of our personal experience in those parties that we decided to form this or join this party. Together with our brothers and sisters who share our own principle and ideology. And I'm happy that people are beginning to recognize that our party is the only way out for the country. Let me go back to a question that I asked you earlier about blurring the lines. And the reason why I asked the question is there's so many problems that we're facing, whether it be ethnic, religious, and of course the politicians are at the center. How do you intend, because you talked about your strategies working, what strategy are you going to use to deal with the divisions that we have in the country? Former president Lushevon Passenger recently spoke about the fact that these elections might just make or break us. And that it all depends on the rhetoric and the messaging that certain politicians are putting out, politicians like you. So what do you intend to do to make sure that that is not you? Yes, you see, by the grace of God we are going to have a very peaceful and successful election. And NNPP will win that election in 2023. I told you right from the beginning that all these supporters we have in this country were not doing it for nothing. It was based on the solid achievements that we had in Kano and elsewhere. As I told you, I was the governor of Kano 1999, 2003, and of course 2011 to 2015. We have done extremely well, especially at that particular time, our main issue in Kano then was the issue of education. We have performed to the extent with due humility no government in the history of this country did what we did in Kano. Because there was no government, state government that sponsored over 3000 young men and women of Kano, not indigenous of Kano, residents of Kano who have been given free scholarship to go and study various fields across 14 countries of the world. It was only our government really at that time that established two major universities, Kano University of Science and Technology and Northwest University. It was our government in four years that established 26 institutes that had to do training, retraining, and of course supporting our young men and women in various trades and businesses. So we have done so well. It was only us that sponsored thousands of students to private universities. We have done it in Kalam University, 412 students or young men and women from Kano to that university, 300 to Ignidian University, 300 to Dells University, 200 to Crescent University, 25 to Abti. These were people who came from Mr. Nobody. And now they are graduates, some of them doctors, PhDs, some of them are even professors. So we have done so much in education. And it was only in Kano, I believe, that every child of Kano during our time had opportunity to go to primary school. All of them, but only to go and sit on the floor with a chair. It was only during our time that any child that graduated from primary school had an opportunity to go to secondary school because we established hundreds of them, including 44 technical schools and so on and so forth in Kano. It was during our time that anybody who see university qualification that had admission either in this country or outside the country. And we are so happy with that. And that's why when they say we have support from Kano, it's not just not for nothing. And we are able and happy to say the issue of security, the Boko Haram at that time did everything possible under the sun to take over Kano. But going by my experience from the Ministry of Defense, what we did was to bring in all the services, the military, of course, the army, the Air Force in Kano, the police, the SACS, the civil defense, and all other people in uniform. Together was our own security, the special services in Kano State. We brought them together under the Bulgaria commandant. We gave them all what they required. And that's how we work together with enough intelligence. And we did hundreds of thousands of young men and women who are empowered. And along the line, of course, we included them in the issue of security. And our agencies at that time, security agencies, had no problem with intelligence. There is very much available to them. And that's why, up till today, it is very difficult for anybody, any criminal, any terrorist to reach Kano easily. It's not possible. I'm curious, if you were able to do that in Kano, why is it something that we cannot replicate across the states in the areas that are mostly affected by either Boko Haram or the so-called gunmen or the bandits? I mean, we see how stretched, thinly stretched our security forces are right now, including the police. And this is one of the biggest problems that this administration has faced, especially for a government who rode into office on the wings of that. So why do you think the problem, or why do you think the problem is? Because you've spoken about what you were able to do in Kano, and that still stands as we speak. But why can't it be replicated across the country? Well, as a federal government, that's what we intend to do. But if you are looking at a token of governance, you see, unfortunately, from my experience, from 1999 to 2008, most people who are opportuned to be governors, they want to stand on themselves to think that they know everything. They hardly learn from any other person. You see, in 1999, 2003, I was governor of Kano. We have done so well. I lost election because of some obvious reasons in 2003, not because of performance or credibility or anything. No. Because of the sentiments of that time, Yudhara Buhari came. At that time, everybody was shouting, say, Buhari, we were in the PDP together with Obasejo. We stood by Obasejo and worked so hard. That was the only time they put gubernatorial and presidential election same day. And along the confusion result was announced, I lost election. Now, that was the first time we stood by the party. Now, but when I came back eight years after, the first place of call was this Legos to come to Fashola and say how I did this, how I did that, to learn more. Not because I didn't know. When I was governor, Fashola was here, certainly, was not a governor. It was not in the Bolatino book. That's what we started together. So people should learn, people should compare, people should listen. There is so much to learn in this country. Many of us were in government house for a very long time. Those of us who started, especially those of us who have started in 1999, were nobody. In fact, the general thing is, I am now the governor. It is the seat and nobody listens to other people. So we were ready. In fact, even at that time, there were many things that we were doing in Kano, that I tried to share with the Northern governors. That's one of my second term. But most people were not even willing to do it. But the point now is that I think you are right. And that's why we are in the rest. What we have done in Kano, what I have done in the Minister of Defense at that particular time, because I am sure Nigerians will remember, during our time, it was extremely difficult for anybody to raise his head against Nigerians. It was very difficult. In fact, we were out there. Our military was in Liberia. Our military was in Sierra Leone. The military were in Darfur in Sudan and so on and so forth. And they did extremely well. Now many things have gone wrong to the extent that we are not even talking of going out for operation anywhere. Even to protect ourselves is becoming extremely difficult now. And we have seen the issues. We have known the issues. And it's well documented in our party. And very soon we are coming up or coming out with the details of what we will do in the areas of security, areas of economy, areas of education. We all want to do it differently because that is what is needed today. You know, the general thing, I mean, everybody will talk, I will do this, but we'll come out with the details in our blueprint. Since we're talking about different aspects of the country, let's talk about the oil situation, the oil theft. The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Divayo had mentioned the fact that government was complicit in the level of oil theft that we've been experiencing recently. And I'm sure that you have heard that there's been a pipeline that is stretching to the sea that government just discovered where our oil is being funneled into the hands of thieves. Why do you think that this is happening right under a president who is the minister for petroleum? And of course, an NNPC that has been rebranded over and over again, but change has not necessarily taken place. What do you think about that situation surrounding oil? In my own opinion, in the first place, president, ordinarily she didn't be the minister of petroleum. In this case, he is. Unfortunately, he is. And you see, NNPC is just like all other ministries, departments and agencies. Things have gone wrong. The problem we had now, or we have on the ground, is that president under normal circumstances should surround himself with very competent people. All areas, all these places are being mined by somebody. And for the minister or the group managing director and even the security agencies that are responsible for ensuring the safety of our infrastructure, especially the pipes you are talking about. An anomalous circumstance is the time for many of them to resign. You see, he cannot be going around collecting money in terms of debts from outside loans while at the same time your own assets are being taken away day and night by criminals. It doesn't tell you. And you see, I am one of those who hate the issue of loan. For the eight years I was governor, I never borrowed one naira. And twice I was going to government house in 1999 and 2011, I was in heriting huge debts from my predecessors. But there was never a time in those two places that I left one naira as debt. I would pay them and exit living zero debt. And that is how it should be. And that's why we always tell Nigerians and everybody who cares to know that there is enough resources in this country to take care of ourselves. And we have proved it in common on two different occasions, 1990, 2000 and the 88 years in between. When I lived in 2003, no zero, when I came back hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars were being borrowed. The first thing I did was to exit from those loans and paid off and left Kaloan 2015 zero debt. So you see everybody wants to be governor. In fact, even everybody wants to be president. But the problem is how many people have got the capacity and how many people have proved to the country and the world that they have the capacity to do the work of the president. Some of them just want to be there because they want it. Some may think it's a place to enjoy. Some will think it's a place to amass some resources and so on and so forth. It doesn't work that way. I am personally in politics to make the difference. I was in the civil service of Kano for 17 years before I left service because I started very early after my technical education in Kano. I joined RECA and served for 17 years as a civil servant before retiring from the civil service in 1991 and I became deputy speaker in 1992 of the House of Health. So you see that is why Nigeria's, this time around, this 2023 election, they have to be very, very careful. They have to put aside the issue of sentiments that this one is from my ethnic group. This one we go to Moscow or the church together. This one is from the north. This one is from south. What we are advocating is that people should put their antecedents on the ground. We want people with capacity to do the job. We want people with integrity, people who would come and say, yes, you are doing wrong. You should be punished. You cannot say one should be punished while you have done 10 times, 20 times worse than that particular person. So I believe now that campaign has started. So many things are likely going to come out. That is why I believe strongly that the other parties will only come down this time. They cannot say nothing they will do to impress Nigerians because if there was anything, I am in the position to know because I was part of the formation of the PDP 1998-1999. I became governor of Afghanistan. I was part of the formation of APC in 2013-14. And of course 2014, I was a governor. I left the party PDP then because we thought PDP was the worst. We wanted change for the country. Unfortunately, we realized later that some were even arguing that PDP itself was better than the APC. And they were banking before NNPP really was populated. They thought they would defeat APC because they were bad, but APC was the worst. But now the equation is completely different and Nigerians are coming out really because everybody is worried. Everybody in this country is negatively affected except few, very, very few people who are there pretending that all is well while, as you rightly pointed out, we all know that things have gone so bad. And the worst thing is they don't even want to hear that. If you go and say things are bad, say, oh, this one is an enemy. Let's talk about what political pundits have been saying about 2023. Most of them, if not 70 percent, have said a journey to unify. Now let's also talk about the economists. They are saying that even if we were a God himself that would be the president in 2023, it's not going to be an easy fit. How ready are you for that? Now, you see, for those of us who have been in civil service, those of us who have been in politics at least for three good decades now, those of us who had the opportunity to look at what was happening and what is happening in other parts of the world. You see, Nigeria and Nigerians are good. Nigerians are good people. The elasticity limit of Nigeria. Do we keep stretching Nigerians until this week? Yeah, I mean, if Nigeria was another country, I would have reached the elasticity limit long time ago. But we are still here as Nigerians. We are still moving as Nigerians. And now the only hope that Nigerians have is that there will be election in the next few months and believe in that some people will come and change the status quo. The status quo is not working for Nigerians. It's only working for very few people in this country. That is why people have hope, especially the young men and women, people who could not go to school, people who have finished their degrees, diplomas, L.C. and so on cannot find a job anywhere because government could not make the conducive atmosphere necessary for them to employ more people and even more importantly, to create a better environment for businessmen and women to employ more of these young men and women in this country. So it's very unfortunate to the extent that young men and women are taking drugs now. Those of us who are going into crowds, those of us who are in direct contact with these young men on the streets, it's very pathetic. You look at them, look at their eyes, look at their lips, look at their palms. You could see these guys are not well, are taking drugs. You can see it in their eyes. They can see it even in their behavior and so on and so forth. And nobody is doing anything about it. Look, in Kano, for the eight years I was a governor, we established what we call a reformatory institute. All the young women and women who are into drugs, who have been mocked, put in the reformatory, stayed there for three months with psychologists, with Klaigi or Slavic malams and so on, talking to them, with other doctors, medical doctors, taking care of the health aspect of them and so on and so forth. And all of them without exception were employed directly by government or indirectly by way of taking them to ITF for special training in their chosen career and then giving them free capital to go and do their businesses. And they are all there in Kano and we dealt with the barrels that we are bringing in the drugs into the country. We even went to the extent of the source outside this country to talk to them and warn them and report it to federal government and so on and so forth. So we have done so much and that is why you see these young men and women you see on the streets of Kano and northern Nigeria or even in the south, anybody you see dancing, pressing, concocia has one reason or the other to do that. And if you ask them, they will tell you why they are so happy with what we have done and what they are expecting us to do when we have the opportunity again. Well, always a pleasure to speak with you, but finally the candidates that you are competing against, the APC Labor Party, the economist recently wrote about Pitao B saying that he is touted to win this election by all of their statistics and the statistics they used in measuring all of the candidates last week. What do you think about the Pitao B phenomenon? Are you worried in any way? You see, we operate at the grass roots, that's where we are. Anybody who is disguised can stay there as long as he can. And you say that Pitao B did not say that? I'm not saying that. What I'm saying, I'm being general, but you can fix it anywhere. You see, I think people have to be careful on what they see and especially things that look obvious, that is not true. Now, parties and the businesses, for example, of making fake our opinion poor, that's no good for anybody. The economist is a very famous and renowned economist. They wrote, I want you to read it very well what they said. They are not recommending anybody. They are not pressing anybody. You see, some of these propaganda doesn't work. It doesn't work. I think that's why I told you, the other parties have read their pick. All the people who are propagandists, people telling lies, people stories that are true. You see, only facts and truth can turn the test of time. What we ask Nigerians to do is to look at the real antecedents of these candidates. You tell us what you have done and of course, debate will come. People will tell us and of course, we know all the states, these 36 states of the federation, we know them. Some of them are colleagues, in fact, some of them are junior colleagues. We know those who are performed. We know those who have done nothing and they are keeping quiet. And we know those who have done nothing and are making empty statements that does not turn the test of time. Well, we're looking forward to 2020 because it's going to be a very interesting year. Thank you very much, Neri. Senator Rabiu Mosa-Kwan Koso is the president, child candidate of the New Nigerian People's Party, NNPP. Thank you so much for speaking with us. We appreciate it. Thank you very much. All right.