An All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential aspirant and Kano state governor, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso, has described President Goodluck Jonathan as “the easiest sitting president for any opposition party to defeat in a free and fair election .”

Kwankwaso made this declaration during an interview with newsmen in Ilorin, Kwara state, on Tuesday 21 October 2014.

•Kwankwaso

The presidential hopeful who was in Ilorin for the meeting of the Progressive Governors’ Forum and also maintained that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, would not last beyond 2015, insisted that what Nigeria needs in 2015 is a leader who can instill discipline and demonstrate the capacity to effect needed changes in the polity.

He said: “Jonathan is the easiest sitting president to defeat in an election because of insecurity in the land because the first and foremost responsibility of any government is security of the people.

“You people are not in the front line and that is why you may not understand the gravity of the situation. As I speak with you some people are on the hills, in the forest, under mountains taking refuge; they are internally displaced. Just yesterday (Monday) we sent six trucks of relief materials to our people in refuge camps in Niger Republic.

“Unfortunately we have leaders in this country who have divided the county along religious and ethnic lines. All other countries are making progress but here we are being fed with statistics that cannot be verified. I think Jonathan should be happy if we unseat him because it will help him to go and rest.

“Change is possible once you get the right agent of change. What has happened in Kano state for instance has never happened and what made it possible was that the people had a new governor in 2011; it was that simple. We need people who are disciplined in Nigeria; people who mean what they say and stick to it.”

The governor, who expressed support for the use of consensus in picking his party’s flag bearer, however faulted the process used by PDP in endorsing President Jonathan for the 2015, describing it as undemocratic.

He said: “One of the greatest mistakes of the PDP is the way they did their consensus; governors and other stakeholders just sat down and endorsed one person, people came from different places just to sit in Abuja and endorse what was done in the Villa. That is not democracy. I think the founding fathers of the PDP would be sad in their graves over this.

“But in any case I have said it before that PDP will rule for only 16 years and that 16 years will lapse by May 2015. They will pack out by 2015 and that is it.”