Presidential Candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, says it’s quite unfortunate that the alliance between his party and the Labour party didn’t materialize. Former Anambra state governor, Peter Obi, is the presidential candidate of the Labour Party.
Kwankwaso expressed his regret when he spoke at a forum with the Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, and senior journalists in Lagos on Sunday.
Kwankwaso said if the alliance had worked there would not have been current contemplation that there might be a run-off presidential poll in 2023 because he and Obi would have won by a landslide.
He said the alliance didn’t see the light of day because of the insistence of the Labour Party team that power must return to the south.
His words: “I thought the alliance would be good. If we had done that nobody will be talking about the second ballot in 2023. In our discussions, the issue was who will be the presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate.
Both parties raised negotiation committees. Our team was led by Buba Galadima. The committees looked at age, educational qualification, office held, and experience.
In the end, the other committee did not want to go with this, they talked about power shifting to the South and the South-East. Nigeria has gone beyond that, nobody can be president of Nigeria now based on ethnic and regional considerations.”
