I Can’t Be Anybody’s Running Mate – Kwankwaso Proudly Declares

• Says NNPP ‘ll collapse with 30 years of hard work

BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso says the idea of being a running mate to any presidential candidate in the 2023 election is a move that will destroy over 30 years of hard work building political structures and friendship across Nigeria

For the former Kano State Governor, importantly too, accepting to be a Vice Presidential candidate would lead to the collapse of NNPP and likely destabilisation of the ‘Kwankwasiyya Movement’.

The NNPP torch-bearer, who stormed Gombe State at the weekend to commission the NNPP state office and meet with elected Party officials, said that based on the NNPP’s fame and wide acceptance within the short time, anything short of his presidency would ultimately mean the party’s collapse.

However, confirming that the NNPP had been in talks with the Labour Party for a possible merger, he said the bone of contention still remains who becomes the presidential candidate, adding; “From the discussion with the Labour Party, the main issue was who becomes the president if the parties merge.

“At the end of the day, some of our representatives thought that there should be a criterion in terms of age, qualification, offices held, performance and so on. Of course, the other side would not want that. Most of the people from there believe that the president has to go there (South-east).

“If I now decide to be the vice-presidential candidate for anybody in this country; NNPP will collapse because the party is based on what we’ve built in the last thirty years. I served for seventeen years as a civil servant; we are talking of 47 years of very serious hard work that’s what is holding NNPP now.

But the one-time Defence Minister did not give a final answer on whether the merger talks had collapsed or the way forward in the event that things do not go as planned by both parties.