Kwankwaso Tipped for Senate Majority Leader
Kano State Governor, Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is currently being tipped by a number of elected senators from the North-west region for the position of the Majority Leader in the next Senate.
At a press conference in Kano yesterday, the Senator- elect for Kano North, Hon. Barau Jibrin, dropped the hint, insisting that they are already meeting to finalise the moves.
Barau, a one-time member of the Federal House of Representatives, appealed “to fellow members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and to my colleagues in the next Senate to endorse Kwankwaso, for any position that is meant for the North-west region in the upper house.”
Hon Barau, a former House Committee Chairman on Appropriation (1999- 2003) and Senator-elect, Kano North senatorial zone, further remarked that Kwankwaso’s political profile is impressive and appealing enough to be trusted with a huge responsibility.
“He (Kwankwaso) was a former Deputy Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives and two time governor of the most populous state in Nigeria. It is noteworthy that he came second in the presidential primary of the APC, which took place in Lagos late last year.
“After he was defeated, he exhibited the spirit of sportsmanship by coming out fully to help the party win the presidential elections. I tell you confidently that he did all that was within his powers to ensure that his party came to victory.
“He used all the means that were available to him to make sure that the APC emerged victorious in the state, in the North-west region and in Nigeria as a whole.
“The important thing to note in giving him this special recognition is that he, Kwankwaso, led his state to give his party’s presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari the highest number of votes among the states of the federation.
“We must not also forget that the Senator- elect championed the equivalent of a revolution in the state when he ensured that APC won all the 24 seats of the House of Representatives and all the three senatorial seats available, leaving the opposition party with zero trophy.
“So, we feel that by virtue of all what he did and the fact he is an accomplished legislator and in order to further encourage the people of Kano State to continue to support the APC, we feel it will be good to allow him occupy any of the position meant for the region.
“And we do hope that by our calculation, the Majority Leader of the Senate would be zoned to the North- west and if that be the case, we have no other choice of leadership than Kwankwaso.
“We have started work in earnest with some Senators-elect to actualise this objective. The main idea is to continue to steam the party in this part of the country, to show appreciation to the people of Kano for what they did by massively voting for APC during the presidential election.
“We are not in this for the sake of appreciation alone. This man is an accomplished person. He was a member of the Constitutional Conference during the Abacha era, he was a legislator par excellence as a deputy Speaker and he was a diplomat, appointed to Dafur and endowed with the mastery of ways of inter -group relationship.
“I and other Senatorselect have started working to ensure he emerges the Majority Leader- if the position is zoned to the North-west.
“But if that position is not zoned to the sub-region, we are still determined to ensure that he is allowed to occupy any other post that is reserved for the region,” Barau stated.