Kwankwaso: I have no problem with accepting defeat in election

Rabiu Kwankwaso, presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), says he has no problem with accepting defeat in elections.

Kwankwaso spoke on Monday during a presidential town hall meeting at the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA).

The town hall was tagged ‘Midwifing a New Nigeria’.

Speaking at the event, Kwankwaso said if elected president in February, he will prioritise education like he did when he was governor of Kano.

He said Nigeria has the financial resources for the government to properly fund education at levels.

During the question and answer session, a student asked Kwankwaso if he will accept the outcome of the presidential poll if he loses.

Responding, the former Kano governor said: “In the last 30 years, I contested elections 18 times, I lost 3 and won 15.

“The first one I lost was in 2003 as a sitting governor.

“Let me say that I believe I was the first and only governor or president, who lost an election, picked his deputy governor, commissioners and other government officials to go to the person who was announced as the winner to congratulate him in his house.

“So you see, I have no problem with accepting losing election. I did the same in Lagos in 2015 (referring to APC presidential primary). Buhari came first, I came second, Atiku came third and Rochas came fourth.

“I accepted despite the fact that there were issues in the elections. There were issues but still, I accepted it.

“Having said that, I want to say that our prayer is that INEC and other stakeholders will do the right thing in the 2023 elections and organise free, fair and credible elections.”

Kwankwaso said the emergence of NNPP as one of the leading parties has given Nigerians another alternative outside the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“We are happy with our blueprint (NNPP manifesto). We were able to touch on various areas of security, education and so on,” he said.

“I’m very happy that Nigeria has now gotten an alternative to the total failure that we call PDP and APC in this country.”