Former Governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, with some prominent Nigerians has formed a political movement, The National Movement, expected to transform into a political party, ahead of the 2023 general elections.

He said with the new group was formed to save democracy and rescue the nation.

Other members of the movement convened by Kwankwaso are elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai; Air Vice Marshal Ifeanaju; Buba Galadima; former minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung; Sen Prince Nweze Onu; Folasade Aliyu; Prof Rufai Ahmed Alkali; Senator Grace Ben; Senator Umale Shittu; Ibrahim Ringim; Alhaji Arre Gwaska; Chief Paul Okala; Rufai Hanga; Idris Wada; Sen Abdulrahman Abubakar, among others.

Speaking during the unveiling of the movement on Tuesday, Kwankwaso said it was a collective desire to rescue the country.

Kwankwaso, a former minister of defense, said, “For too long, Nigerians have been waiting for this day. For too long, friends of Nigerians abroad have been waiting for this day and the time is today and now. Today, 22-02-2022, all Nigerians cut across all social, religious and regions have gathered. It is our collective resolve to rescue our nation from this difficult situation.”

Kwankwaso said his friends met during the COVID-19 lockdown and resolved that a step must be taken to rescue Nigeria.

He stressed that the idea was to fight poverty and ensure the wellbeing and happiness of Nigerians.

He said, “We resolved that there must be a Nigeria first before politics. While some of us will want to contest, we must work together to rescue the country. The national movement has members in every local government area and outside the country. As a former minister of defence, I believe in the capacity of the Nigerian Armed Forces to fight this insecurity.

“We shall fight against rural and urban poverty and promote prosperity of all, and not prosperity for only a few. We shall ensure that quality social services such as education and healthcare services are made available and accessible to all Nigerians irrespective of the social and cultural backgrounds; and we shall promote and ensure the wellbeing and happiness of all Nigerians.

“Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, all the above lofty ideals cannot be achieved in an atmosphere of rancour, unprecedented collective dislocation and upheavals, unimaginable banditry and kidnapping, ever-present pillaging and rampage posed by Boko Haram and other terrorist groups, and indeed other equally dangerous tendencies represented by lPOB, the continued pollution of the environment in the Niger Delta, and indeed multiple separatist agitations all over the land.

“We know the origins of all these existential threats to our existence as a nation, much more to our collective development as one indivisible sovereign nation. All these are thrown up on us substantively due to lack of leadership capacity to handle them. We therefore are more than just determined to confront these threats to our corporate existence. We are ready with concrete and incontrovertible measures to pull our nation out of the doldrums.

“We cannot claim that all these challenges can be solved by brute military force. However, as a former Minister of Defence, I believe in the capacity of our security forces to confront and solve the current insurgencies bedeviling our country. We will equip and empower the military and all arms of our security agencies and provide them with effective and unquestioned capacity to reclaim our country from the stranglehold of insurgents, kidnappers, terrorists and all forms of criminal elements.

“The farmers and herders conflict also continues to represent a serious threat to law and order and to the continued co-existence of hitherto brotherly people across the country. The TNM will protect all farming communities across the country from the encroachment of herders. Similarly we will preserve the interests of herding communities by providing them with the wherewithal to practice their age-old profession in the most modern ways without having to encroach on farmlands.

“We in the TNM are also acutely aware of the agitations of many sections of our beloved country for re-structuring and re-alignment and resource control. We believe that the voice of the people is sacred; the voice of all our people, together, is the voice of God. Therefore, restructuring the corporate units of our great country is possible and doable.

“As avowed democrats we are ready and prepared to act in concert with the wishes and desires comprehensively of all our people. We will embark of massive, comprehensive, and unprecedented reform of our national life in order to improve the living conditions of all our people.”