Kaduna State governorship candidate of New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) for the 2023 election, Senator Suleiman Othman Hunkuyi has admitted that he made a human error by campaigning for and bringing All Progressive Congress (APC) to power in Kaduna State in the 2015 election.
This is even as he said, apart from working for APC at the state level, he also worked relentlessly for the party at the national level at that time to ensure President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory.
Hunkuyi, however, said it was not something to regret, because every human being was bound to make an error in life.
He said after he had left the APC, the party was voted into power in 2019 by default because of poor turnout of voters, warning that if the electorate failed to turn out in 2023, the state might have a default government again.
At an interactive session with representatives of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state on what he has in stock for the state, the governorship hopeful said he would engage relevant stakeholders like the NLC on decision making about governance.
He also vowed to revise some policies of this present administration that are considered to be too harsh and unfriendly to the poor masses segment of the society.
This was even as the NLC state chairman, Ayuba Suleiman Magaji, had earlier in his welcome address described Hunkuyi as friends of civil servants who intervened in restating sacked workers during the then military administration of Col Hameed Ali (rtd).
Magaji also recalled how Hunkuyi assisted workers to access loans from the office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG).
The NLC chairman, however, did not mention the particular administration that facilitated such loan, saying, “I did not want to mention name here.”
According to Hunkuyi, “The socio-economic situation in Kaduna State is not palatable, but we don’t have any other State that belongs to us other than Kaduna State.
“I didn’t want to pursue politics beyond 2019 because personally I wanted to do something else. And also dedicate attention and time to my little children and my extended family. I did not want to be part of 2023 politics.
“But for so many reasons, among them, one, nobody gets up and becomes honest without taking an antecedent by the current administration of APC in Kaduna State and in Nigeria without possibly bringing in the name of PDP.
“When God created Adam, He told him what not to do, but he failed. In 2013, 2014, I felt that Nasir el-Rufai would make a very good governor for Kaduna State. That was my conviction. I felt that Muhammadu Buhari would make a very very good President in 2015. That was my conviction. Nobody foresaw that.
“From my belief and what I believe, I was paraded handcuffed and flown in a helicopter because I stood my ground for the election of Muhammadu Buhari in 2015. That was the way I believed. It was a conviction. But it was an error because in the human mind, the behaviour of man is unpredictable.
“So, when I came back in 2019 and I went around 22 local government areas, I stood up with a microphone and I told the people that if you elect Nasir el-Rufai and Buhari, you do so at your own peril.
“Another reason why I came back and remain in politics is because my big brother said he had retired from politics and I am out of politics. But I came back also to remove all misfits in government by 2023 by the special grace of God because they were brought in by the ill wind of the people. I will flush out all the misfits in government.
“Reason number two why I decided to remain in government is because I want to fix the wreckage inflicted on the financial status of Kaduna State.”
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