Merger With NNPP, Obi’s Surest Way To Presidency – Kwankwaso Boasts
BY VICTOR BUORO – The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP)’s presidential candidate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, says a merger with his party would have given the Labour Party flag bearer, Peter Obi the surest ticket to Nigeria’s presidency come February 25, 2023.
According to the former Kano State Governor, the inability of both parties to reach an agreement during the merger talks remains a missed opportunity for Obi to ride smoothly and win the 2023 presidential race which is just few days away.
Kwankwaso, who spoke on Channels TV’s political programme “The 2023 Verdict” late on Friday evening, was responding to a question about Obi’s chances given the positive ratings he is currently enjoying in most polls conducted by various organisations ahead of this year’s general elections.
The NNPP Standard bearer boasted that the LP presidential candidate’s chances depended largely on a working merger with him (Kwankwaso) if the two parties had come together to fight against the entrenched interests of both the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The one time Nigeria’s Minister of Defence said; “You see, I can tell you, and I have said it here on this chair when we were about to come together, and I said it that the only opportunity they (Labour Party) had was for us to come together.”
He said having missed that great opportunity of a seamless relationship, it would certainly be an uphill task in the present circumstances for the former Anambra State Governor and Labour Party to realize their presidential aspirations singlehandedly.
On the trending polls that seem unfavourable to his presidential ambition, Kwankwaso said it was interesting that the first poll released would “give” him only six per cent votes in the North-West.
Claiming that “…even a madman knows that I’m over and above six per cent or even 60 per cent” in the region, the NNPP candidate said, “We have seen the in-house figures of the PDP and the APC, and they dare not bring it out.”
He said it is enjoyable seeing people who underrate him, adding; “They have done that in 1999. Nobody was giving me a chance in Kano. Within a few months, the party came, I went in the primaries in the PDP and cleared it 100 per cent, so also the general election”.
Further boasting that he was set to repeat the same feat in the 2023 general election, the Leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement said with what is on the ground now, “as far as we are concerned in the NNPP, we have locked down Nigeria.”
He said the signs were quite clear on the political space and cited his claimed endorsement by the youth wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in northern Nigeria before appearing on the TV programme on Friday.
Dismissing the results of polls so far conducted by various groups, Dr Kwankwaso said 90 per cent of voters did not know anything about Twitter or social media.
