Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has cleared the air on stepping down and joining forces with the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Kwankwaso gave his position while discussing his policy ideas for improving systems and services in Nigeria at the Chatham House in London.
“Sir, given that your campaign strategies are very similar to that of Peter Obi in many ways, is there any circumstance that you will step aside and cooperate with Labour in other to remove the current extraction in Nigeria?” Duke Oputa an independent political analyst and member of the audience asked the NNPP presidential candidate.
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“Go and look at my credentials my brother, I am a Ph.D. holder in Civil Engineering, check what your candidate has. I have been in the system for over 30 years now. I was a civil servant for 17 years, I wasn’t a trader,” Kwankwaso responded. “I was the deputy speaker of the house reps in 1992, I was in the constitutional conference elected delegate, the Governor of Kano State for eight years and I was in Senate.”
“If you had been from the North, I am sure you won’t have made that statement for Kwankwaso to withdraw for Labour Party. When we sat down, what I told them is what I will tell you. if they want Kwankwao to withdraw, let’s bring the criteria and select the best. Anytime they have a better candidate, I am ready to talk to him,” he added.
Kwankwaso continued, saying “We are the only party that is now getting support; forget about the big-big people who are the actual problems of this country but from supporters at the grassroots level. Mark it, we have been successful in locking Northern Nigeria today in terms of votes, and in terms of support. Now, we are working in the Southern part of the country. The difference between the North and South is that the North knows us more than the Southern part of the country”.
