Bishop Isaac Idahosa, a vice presidential candidate for the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), described how Rabiu Kwankwaso, the party’s nominee, chose him as his running mate.
Idahosa claimed he had no desire to run for political office at the time he was introduced as the NNPP vice presidential candidate in July during a live interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
“If you want me to give a little background about how I came in, during the Sallah break, he (Kwankwaso) called me, ‘Bishop, where are you?’ I said I’m in Lagos. ‘Could you come to Kano so we can have Sallah celebration together?’
“I got into Kano and I was greeted by a large crowd of people. He does this every Sallah, feeding people. He asked me to greet the people and you know I speak Hausa very well. He said, ‘Bishop, how are you going to greet them, in Hausa or English?’ I said, ‘Hausa.’
“Then we went on and everyone was agog. He never had to tell me what was on his mind. At about 12 midnight that Sunday evening, he called me. That was about a week to the closure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal,” Idahosa said.
The bishop claimed that Kwankwaso, the former governor of Kano State, spoke with him about the need for a running partner from the South-South and asked for his support, which prompted the priest to enlist certain “fathers of religion.”
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Idahosa claims that when the religious leaders requested him to “identify somebody,” he started offering suggestions. However, he pointed out that the Monday hunt had come to an end in vain.
“The only one we got said he had limited time to be able to go and seek counsel about that. That was Tuesday already. So, he (Kwankwaso) said on Wednesday, I should come to his house at Maitama (Abuja) so I can join in the screening; that’s how he left it. Little did I know that it was I that was going to be screened.
“So, I got there and there was Elder Buba Galadima, the national chairman, and what have you. They said I should sit down. I sat. (They asked me) ‘If you are to be chosen as the running mate to His Excellency, Kwankwaso, what’s your vision for Nigeria?’
“I said, ‘Is that why you brought me? Nobody told me I was coming here for screening. I thought I was going to join in the screening committee as a friend.’ I said, ‘Well if I am to be his running mate, I don’t have any vision.
“‘I am a supporting striker because if I have a vision and I’m bringing my vision to his, then the vision comes to bear. It is his vision, his mind, his thoughts. We’ll have to sit down and rub minds together to run with what he has and then we’ll see how we go on.’
“Long story short, I was asked to produce my resume. I said, ‘For crying out loud, I’m not looking for a job. I just came to say hello and do Sallah stuff with my friend,’” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Kano State Commissioner for Information, Muhammad Garba, has predicted that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, will defeat his counterpart in the New Nigeria Peoples Party and former governor of the state, Rabiu Kwankwaso in the 2023 presidential election in the state.
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The commissioner likened the development to when the late MKO Abiola defeated Kano-born Bashir Tofa in the 1993 presidential election in the state, saying that history is about repeating itself in the 2023 presidential election.
Garba spoke at a media parley with the theme ‘Let’s Talk Nigeria’ organized by the Kaduna State League of Veteran Journalists in collaboration with The Arewa House and the Hamdala Hotel, Kaduna.
He said, “I know the former governor of the state is also going to be on the ballot but history can repeat itself again in Kano because late Moshood Abiola of the defunct SDP defeated Kano born late Bashir Tofa of the defunct NRC during the 1993 presidential election.
“I am confident that Kano State will produce lots of votes come 2023. The votes from the Nasarawa Local Government of the state alone is more than the entire votes of the South-Eastern states combined. I am confident we will deliver Kano State to APC.
“The state government will provide an enabling environment for all the candidates and anything can happen and all candidates will certainly get their share of votes depending on how the electorates perceived them.”
On security, the commissioner said the state government had provided an enabling environment for all regardless of tribe, ethnicity, and religion, declaring that “Kano State with the highest population in northern Nigeria is the most peaceful state.”
“His Excellency wants to leave a legacy in Kano as the most peaceful state in the country,” he added.
Garba, who was a former national president of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, told the veterans that the ongoing construction of 30 shops embarked upon by the Ganduje’s administration was almost completed.
He said the idea behind the project was to give practicing journalists in the state financial muscles to enable them to discharge their duties efficiently.
While commending the efforts of the Kaduna Leagues of Veteran Journalists and assuring them of the needed support, the commissioner lamented that “it is only in journalism that solidarity and support for the profession are not gotten. It is good to leave a legacy in whatever you do particularly in human development.”
