The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) vice-presidential candidate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has expressed confidence that the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, will keep his promise to spend only one term in office if elected President in 2027.
Kwankwaso made this known during an interview on News Central’s 60 Minutes with Mr Kay when asked about Obi’s promise to spend only a four-year term and the political bargain within the NDC coalition.
The former governor of Kano State said there was no reason to doubt Obi, saying the former governor of Anambra State made the promise in public.
I believe Peter Obi is a gentleman and I have every reason to trust him, especially because he said it in the hearing of everybody. “Nobody should have any cause to doubt him,” Kwankwaso said.
Kwankwaso said the coalition’s power-sharing understanding was based on mutual trust among its members and agreement on how political power should be rotated.
The deal would allow the south of the country to complete what the coalition sees as an eight-year presidential cycle before power changes hands, he said.
“We think the southern part of the country should complete its second term and, with that, and to the hearing of everybody in this country, I don’t think any gentleman would want to renege, would want to say no or change his or her mind,” he said.
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However, Kwankwaso insisted that Obi’s promise to serve for only one term was not just a personal promise but part of the general agreement among the members of the political alliance.
Coalition Endorses Governance Roadmap
The NDC vice-presidential candidate also said the coalition had gone beyond the talk about individuals and political blocs, by formulating a common governance programme.
He said the alliance has developed short, medium and long term plans that would guide the administration should the party win the 2027 presidential elections.
“More importantly we have collectively gotten a short term, medium term and of course long term plan for this country. “Whether it’s him from the Obidient side or my humble self from the Kwankwasiyya side or another side, we believe we have an agenda,” he said.
He also said the coalition’s priority was to ensure that future leaders would adhere to the agreed programme irrespective of their political alignment or support base.
“We will, as much as possible, ensure that whoever comes, maybe Peter, maybe me or anyone else, would stick to that programme,” he added.
He argued that continuity of the coalition’s policies would remain important beyond the term of any individual President, insisting that the NDC’s goal was to build a governance framework capable of surviving changes in leadership.