November 20, (THEWILL) – Presidential candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, on Sunday, dismissed the rumour making the rounds that he was being pressurised to step down for the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, in order to create a Northern coalition for the 2023 presidential election.
Kwankwaso, who spoke at the Editors’ Forum organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) in Lagos, said the rumour was the handiwork of detractors as he described it as “wishful thinking.”
The NNPP flagbearer said: “I won’t step down for anybody . .. Why did I leave PDP then? Why did they allow me to go? We have passed that stage…We have submitted the names of our candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and NNPP is all out to win the 2023 elections. I am happy to say that we left PDP and All Progressives Congress (APC) for good and we are happy with where we are at NNPP.
“Today, we are happy that we left the two parties and we have since realised that there are millions of Nigerians who are not satisfied with the status quo that PDP and APC represent. Sixteen years of PDP and eight years of APC have left Nigerians disappointed. We are practical politicians, not social-media based and have visited most of our people.We are for people on the ground.”
Speaking on the call for restructuring of the country, Kwankwaso said NNPP is open to discussion and consultations on that and would listen to the genuine aspirations of Nigerians.
About the Author
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
