Presidential Candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has said Labour Party can not win the 2023 Elections.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Kwankwaso said Labor Party’s support is mainly from a particular zone, not the entire country.
Labour Party’s Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, is from the South East, which Kwankwaso obviously referred to in the interview.
“In PDP, they (South East) are completely out; so also in the APC. The only opportunity now is the NNPP. We are aware that on the social media, the young men and women of the south East extraction are working towards getting the presidency, but the facts on the ground is that even if the entire zone or any zone in this country decides to vote for a particular person, that person, going by the provision of our constitution can not be president. I think the Constitution is deliberate to ensure that everybody in the country is involved.”
“Today, many people in the South East believe that they are being marginalised and it will even be worst, if they are not involved in the 2023 project. Labor Party as it stands today can not certainly win an election because the support is mainly from a particular zone and the figures there can not earn anybody a presidential position.
“I have many reasons why I as Rabiu Kwankwaso is sympathetic to South East and I think the relationship between LP and NNPP will cool down a lot of tension in the South East. We don’t want a situation where by a particular section of the country will feel that it is being marginalized and already we have a lot of tension there. And this tension is not good for the South East and for the country. We have a situation today in this country where in that part of country, the whole zone is being shut on Mondays; so many people are being killed and so many business opportunities are being wasted.
“That is why I take this opportunity to say that the leaders at that level should think positively so that this marriage can work. And If this marriage doesn’t work, the implication is that his own candidate in the PDP will be the biggest beneficiary because the North today, the way they operate politically is not very clear to many people.
“Fortunately, the northern voters have always got their own opinion and it is hardly influenced by any elite or anybody. So this northern voters have made up their minds again on what to do right now, but certainly they will vote for NNPP,”
However, the NNPP Presidential Candidate said the choice of the party is to pick a running mate from the South East.
He also said it could be Kingsley Moghalu, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Obi or any key person from the South East.
On Saturday in Gombe, Kwankwaso had said he could not accept to be running mate to any presidential candidate because doing so would lead to the collapse of NNPP.