New Nigerian People’s Party presidential candidate Rabiu Kwankwaso gave insight on Wednesday as to why the much talked about merger with the Labor Party and its presidential candidate Peter Obi did not materialise.
Kwankwaso spoke about the issue while speaking at Chatham House in London on Wednesday with an excerpt also shared on his Twitter account.
the punch reports that protracted alliance talks between NNPP and LP collapsed after back and forth.
The proposed merger had excited many Nigerians and political observers, with many positing that it would create an opening to the northwest and put Obi in prime position to challenge his counterparts in the ruling All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu; and the Popular Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, during the elections next month.
But sharing more details about why the proposed merger fell through, Kwankwaso, a former Kano state governor, said the merger didn’t work out due to the “media hype” LP enjoyed at the time.
“In the Labor Party, I was initially interested in working with them. But at the time, they were on top of media hype and we couldn’t come to a compromise. Our party (NNPP) is a national party and we have the support of the masses.”
“If you have a party that is based on ethnicity and religion, that is the difference between the Labor Party and our party, which is a national party, the New Nigeria People’s Party,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kwanwaso also urged the president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.), to leave free elections as a legacy.
”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 call on the President of Nigeria to leave a legacy of free elections, as a serial victim of voter fraud and as the first beneficiary of free and fair elections in Nigeria,” he added.
