2019: Kwankwaso in APC battles Atiku for PDP ticket

For the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to floor President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 presidential election, it must field someone from Kano, Kastina or Kaduna.

Kano’s former Gov. and APC Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso aid this in an interaction with Dele Monodu, publisher of the Boss.

According to Kwankwaso, these states have the highest population of voters.

“It would be difficult to win if they pick someone from any other zone…,” said Kwankwaso, a member of the rebel group nPDP now in the APC.

Kwankwaso was quoted by an online newspaper as declaring himself a free man and the most qualified candidate to fly the PDP flag.

“I’m a free man now and available to try my luck elsewhere but I know that PDP is the biggest party and as long as they follow democratic principles, Buhari will easily be defeated. But if they handpick and force any candidate on the party, they will fail,” he was qouted to have said.

He indicated his readiness to hop into the PDP if the opposition party will follow democratic rules in picking its presidential candidate for 2019.

“I can guarantee them that I will beat Buhari if given the chance,” he said.

Still in the ruling party, Kwankwaso has refused to flow with its tide. He kept away from the national congress of the APC in Abuja June 23, choosing rather to visit another PDP presidential aspirant and former V.P. Atiku Abubakar.

Atiku has begun his mobilisation for another shot at the presidency come 2019, though leaders of thought across the north say they are scouting for a younger candidate,

Atiku is 71.

Kwankwaso, 61, amongst other candidates from the north,  is believed to have the support of former President Olusegun Obasanjo who has been mobilising against Buhari’s re-election–and for a younger untainted candidate from the north.