The Presidential candidate of the New
Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, has given insight into why the
much-talked-about merger with the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential
candidate, Peter Obi, was not successful.
Kwankwaso disclosed this while
speaking at the Chatham House in London on Wednesday with its excerpt also
shared on his Twitter handle. The
prolonged talks on an alliance
between NNPP and LP collapsed after several back and
forth.
The proposed merger had excited many
Nigerians and political observers with many positing that it would create an
opening to the North-West and further place Obi in a prime position to
challenge his counterparts in the ruling All Progressives Congress, Bola
Tinubu; and the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, during next month
election.
However, sharing more
details on why the proposed merger failed, Kwankwaso, who is a former Kano
State governor, said the union didn’t work out due to “media hype” being
enjoyed by LP at that time.
“On Labour Party, I was initially
interested in working with them. But at that time, they were at peak of the
media hype and we couldn’t reach a compromise. Our party (NNPP) is a national
party, and we’re commanding the support of the masses.”
“If you have a party which is based on
ethnicity and religion, that is the difference between the Labour party and our
party, which is a national party, New Nigeria Peoples Party,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kwanwaso also urged the
President, Muhammadu Buhari to bequeath a legacy of a free election.
”My 30 years in elections have taught
me that free and fair elections require the contributions of different
stakeholders, especially the president, if the president wants a fair election,
it will happen.
“I want to appeal to the Nigerian
president to leave a legacy of free elections, as a serial victim of electoral
fraud, and as the first beneficiary of free and fair elections in Nigeria,” he
added.
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