Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), has explained why the hopeful alliance between his party and the Labour Party (LP) failed.
He cleared the air on stepping down and joining forces with the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Speaking at Chatham House on Wednesday in London, Mr Kwankwaso said the much-talked-about alliance did not work because the LP did not see the reason to work with him.
Kwankwaso gave his position while discussing his policy ideas for improving systems and services in Nigeria at the Chatham House in London.
Many believed the alliance between Mr Kwankwaso, who has a large followership known as ‘Kwankwasiyya’ in the northern part of the country and Mr Obi who commands a large following of young people, especially in the south, would be a game changer in the coming election often dominated by two parties.
However when asked by Duke Oputa, an independent political analyst and member of the audience why the alliance between the two didn’t work, the NNPP presidential candidate said, “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 Kwankwaso 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.
“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.”
He insisted 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.
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 Northen 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”.