Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has said he will not contest the 2019 presidential election, despite pressure from his supporters to run.
The governor said his decision not to contest the presidential election was based on the experiences of his predecessors.
Ganduje spoke weekend during the closing ceremony of a 3-day retreat for Kano State APC’s officials and stakeholders in Sokoto.
“People are telling me to go for the presidency after finishing my tenure. But I am telling them ‘no’. I am contented being a governor of my state. I don’t want to pass there to avoid the mistakes of my predecessors”, he stated.
In apparent reference to former Governor Ibrahim Shekarau, who contested the 2011 presidential election on the platform of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, and his former boss, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, who contested the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in 2014 but lost to then General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), the eventual winner of the last presidential polls, Ganduje said his immediate focus was to deliver on his electoral promises to the people of Kano State.
“The first one contested but failed woefully. Another one made a similar attempt but was knocked down along the line. My prayer always is to complete my tenure successfully and deliver on the mandate given to me by the electorate”.
He also warned his followers and other party loyalists to stop prostrating or kneeling for him because he was not a “demigod”.
“I don’t like sycophancy or God-fatherism. I don’t like people praising me because it makes me feel bad. I am not the best. It is only God that chose me”, he said.
Gov. Ganduje also said he would not anoint anybody as his successor, promising to show fairness to all aspirants.
The state APC acting chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Abbas Sanusi, cautioned all elected and appointed officers against shunning their people because it was capable of portraying the party in bad light.
