TheCable

Rufai Ahmed Alkali, national chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), says Rabiu Kwankwaso, the party’s presidential candidate, did not hire consultants to prepare his manifesto.

Alkali spoke during an interview with Channels Television, on Tuesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, Kwankwaso unveiled the manifesto at an event in Abuja.

During the event, Kwankwaso said his promises to Nigerians are anchored around his “deep commitment to making the country work for all of us and in the overall interest of all Nigerians”.

Speaking during the interview, Alkali said the presentation of the manifesto shows that NNPP and its presidential candidate are serious about winning the 2023 presidential election.

The NNPP national chairman said Kwankwaso’s manifesto was designed to address the concerns and fears of Nigerians, stressing that the document is “thorough and organic”.

“There have been these insinuations that the NNPP is not serious about the 2023 elections. There are also insinuations about our presidential candidate and the way we do our things,” he said.

“But we kept assuring Nigerians that we are not approaching Nigerians in 2023 with the same approach — it is a new thinking and a new way of doing things.

“Therefore, whatever we want to do, we have to be more calculative, thoughtful, and organised, and so far it took time to produce this document and it has been brought to the Nigerian public.

“And it is addressed to Nigerians specifically about their fears, concerns and specific interest as we move to the 2023 general election. The presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, said the document is organic, integrated, thorough and original and he told the public who were in attendance at the launching that he was the chairman of the committee.

“This is not a document that was produced by consultants who were paid off and imposed on the candidate without his knowledge. Every part, page, sentence, he was part of it so that it is owned by the party and the rest of the country.”

Speaking on the achievements of Kwankwaso, the NNPP national chairman claimed that the former Kano governor did not collect security votes during his tenure as governor.

He added that Kwankwaso cleared the debts of the Kano state government when he became governor and did not incur any debt when leaving office.

“During his tenure, not only that he did not leave debt, he also left money in the account of the state government when he left office after his second time,” he added.

“For example, he said there is no room for security votes during his period. He did not collect security votes. He put all this together to build bridges, roads and other social infrastructure.”