Rabiu Kwankwaso, the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), has explained that the hopeful alliance between his party and the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi failed because LP was under serious media hype.
Speaking at Chatham House on Wednesday in London, Kwankwaso said the alliance did not work because at the time, LP did not see reasons why we could work together.
Recall, in 2022, NNPP and the LP hinted of a possible alliance for the coming general election, with many believing the alliance between Kwankwaso’s large followership known as ‘Kwankwasiyya’ in the northern part of the country and Obi’s large following of youths would be a game changer in the coming election.
“Let me say that I was one of those initially wanting to work together with the labour party,” he said.
“But unfortunately at that time, the Labour Party was under very serious media hype and therefore, they could not see (the) reason.
Responding to if he would be willing to withdraw his ambition to support the LP’s candidate, Kwankwaso said it was not an option since he believes he is more qualified than all other candidates.
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“What I told them is what I will tell you. If anybody wants Kwankwaso to withdraw, just bring criteria and select the best. Anytime I have a better candidate, I am ready to talk to him,” he said.
“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.”
The NNPP presidential candidate while boasting of over 30 years experience in the civil service, claimed that his party is the one growing in Nigeria, describing the LP’s media buzz as a bubble.
“I want to say that our party NNPP is the only growing party in Nigeria today. We have seen the maximum of any party, especially the Labour Party,” he said.
“To us, (Labour Party) it’s like Andrew Liver Salt that just do prrrrr (fizzled out) and now it’s just coming down. That’s the reality of it.”
Kwankwaso maintained that the NNPP is successful in locking down votes and support in the northern part of the country and is currently working and gaining more support from the south.
“For us, the difference between North and South is that North knows us more than the southern part of the country.”
