Sheriff will work for us, says APC gov

Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of Kano state on Thursday said Ali Modu Sherriff, the new chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), would work for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Dismissing the threat of the new PDP chairman that his party would reclaim power in 2019, Ganduje said Sheriff’s antecedent shows he is “a cross carpeter”.

He was speaking in Abuja while fielding questions from journalists at the monthly All Progressives Congress (APC) media roundtable.

“I am sure in the long run he (Sheriff) will work for us, and that is what I believe,” he said.

“Looking at the antecedents, the history of the chairman himself, we all know he is a ‘cross carpeter’.

“He is always on the move in changing from one party to the other. Even when he was in All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP) for eight years, he was working for the Peoples Democratic Party.

“Even, the APC started with him, and then he went back to the PDP and we were happy.

“We are happy because we believe in the long run he would work for us; find out his history, you will believe me.

On security, the governor said the time was ripe to allow states to be in charge of their own policing and security.

“The situation we find ourselves, I think there is no better time we need the state police than now because the security at the moment requires intelligence information,” he said.

“It involves people who are conversant about the society, who are conversant with the tradition, who are conversant with the culture.

“They are in a better position to assist in terms of surveillance, in terms of collecting information and in terms of being effective.

“So I think the idea of a state police is something that we need to pursue.”

Ganduje pledged that his administration would remain law abiding to ensure that President Muhammdu Buhari succeeded in leading Nigeria to the “proverbial Promised Land’’.

“We in Kano state gave President Muhammadu Buhari the highest votes in the federation and we’ll make it a point of duty to work closely with him on his policies, especially pertaining to the three issues of his campaign,” he said.

“We are aligned to that; first, the security issue of the country, we are committed to the protection of lives and properties of the citizenry in Kano state.

“Second is the issue of stamping out corruption; that is vital if we must move forward. Third is the economy and that is why we are diversifying our economy.

“We urge Nigerians to give the president a helping hand in order to achieve these three objectives which are beneficial to Nigerians.”