Rabiu Kwankwaso, presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the last election, says the country’s challenges are beyond the level of security outfits formed by states.
Kwankwaso spoke with journalists on Friday after the national executive committee meeting of NNPP in Abuja.
The former Kano governor said the magnitude of insecurity in the country can only be tackled by the Nigerian military.
He said the military can end the security challenges if given the necessary motivation.
“As a former minister of defence, former chief security officer of Kano state for eight years, and somebody who has gone around and well exposed in this game of politics, I believe that tackling the security challenge is now on the shoulders of the federal government,” Kwankwaso said.
“We have seen states forming some security outfits. Sometimes you laugh. The level at which it is today, is at the level of the Nigerian military and anything short of that wouldn’t work.
“And everybody must work together to make sure there is peace in this country. Some of us who are from the villages and even towns can remember how our people were going to farms.
“Now people cannot go to the farm. They are also being chased from their villages and towns. Our children are abused daily and taken away by criminals and bandits in hundreds.”
Kwankwaso said the NNPP is the only hope of Nigerians, adding that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have failed the people.
He said his party has the formula to address the country’s challenges.
Kwankwaso served as the minister of defence from 2003 to 2007 during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.