Alhaji Ahmed Tijjani, the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) candidate for Kaduna Central Senate seat at the National Assembly, says his target is to help address the problem of security challenge in the area.
Tijani, also a philanthropist, said this when he spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Kaduna.
“Actually, I never dream of contesting for Kaduna Central Senate seat, because my original plans was to try through whatever means to ensure two things in the seven Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Kaduna Central.
“The first issue is to ensure that the prevailing security challenge bedevilling the area is tackled, it is a well known fact that the Boko Haram terrorists and bandits have moved from the North East to the North West and in the North West their camp is in Kaduna.
“I felt that I can do something about this security problem if am the state governor, I even started making moves to contest for the position on the NNPP platform, but for some reasons, our leader Dr Rabi’u Kwankwaso asked me to go for the senate rather. “So that was how I found myself in the Senate race,” he said.
Tijjani said that the second issue was to ensure mass employment of youths to tackle youths restiveness in the area.
He said however, that even with the decision to go for the Senate seat, he remained focused on achieving his target.
“But I told myself that since I already had a focus on what to do for the state, then I can equally narrow that to the Kaduna Central.
“Everybody knows that the bandits are now in Kaduna Central and am seeking for the Senate seat to help wipe them out from the area which is called zone 11.
“I want to use this as a test run for subsequent elections, so that the people will see whether am capable of fitting in in 2027.
“If am given the opportunity to serve, I will embrace everyone in the state, including the Muslims and the Christians, inshort whatever you are or your tribe should not be my concern because you are my brother.
“That was what was lacking in the APC administration in the state,” he said.
Tijjani said that the NNPP was the party to beat in 2023 general election.
“Basically, Kaduna and other Northern states in the country have not benefited much from the present administration.
“So, Nigerians are well prepared for the 2023 election, this time it is not going to be business as usual because the electorate is fully prepared to vote out leaders who have nothing to offer them.
“Those who don’t care about the wellbeing of the citizens and they are prepared to vote in people that they can trust because of what they have done before.
“Our party the NNPP will be voted in by the masses who are the victims of successive governments in 2023, so we are just waiting for February 2023 for the Nigerian masses to vote massively for us,” he said.
Tijjani expressed optimism that he would win the Senate seat.
“Like I said, it’s not about my popularity as a person, it’s about what I have done before and what I have to offer that’s how to convince people that you have something to offer.
“The PDP came to kill us and the APC is burying us, so no matter how good you are, you can’t win an election on their platforms in 2023.
“The two parties have dealt with the Nigerian people badly, especially those in the North, it is out there for people to see, as a Muslim I don’t think that it is proper for me to start praise singing myself.
“I have been a philanthropist for over 20 years touching People’s lives through my foundation, the Ahmed Tijjani foundation,” he said.
Tijjani said that he has touched so many lives through his foundation.
“Many masses especially widows, children and the less privileged have benefitted from the foundation.
“In 2019 I was the Kaduna governorship candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) in fact they called me mai gero or mai shikafa wherever I went for campaign because of what I have been doing.
“I know that today people have their own microscope which they use to screen any seed before planting in their farms,” he said. NAN
