Mark tells Kwankwaso: Count me out of your presidential bid

Senate President David Mark has told Rabiu Kwankwanso, Kano governor, that he would not support his presidential ambition.

Mark (pictured), who made this statement when Kwankwanso paid him a courtesy visit on Thursday at the national assembly complex in Abuja to solicit his support, said: “It is completely impossible for me to support you. Good as your wishes may be, I cannot grant them.”

Kwankwaso belongs to the opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC).

According to Mark, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was the correct platform to contest elections.

“And I have always advised the senators so. If you do not make it in your new party, feel free to come back to us because you have always belonged on this side,” he told to Kwankwaso.

Mark used the occasion to advise politicians, urging them to “play politics without bitterness because God gives power to whom he wants and at any time he wishes.”

Earlier, Kwankwanso, who described Mark’s leadership of the senate as “powerful and responsible”, noted that though he was yet to formally declare his interest in the presidential race, he was at the national assembly to see the president of the senate, members and other officers of both chambers as part of his consultation.

“As a member of the extended family of the national assembly, you will have little or no option other than to support your own,” he told Mark.

He added that as part of All Progressives Congress support for the national assembly, it was making “a special consideration” for members to return to the assembly.

“However that the party is not offering automatic tickets,” he said.