Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, the presidential candidate for the New Nigeria Peoples Party, has declared that he will not retire in favor of Atiku Abubakar, the candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party.
Major Agbo, the NNPP’s spokesman, revealed this in an interview on Sunday, November 13, and criticized a claim that northern leaders were pressuring Kwankwaso to resign for Atiku.
Agbo questioned, “How can somebody come out and say Kwankwaso should step down for Atiku? “ in response to the news. No, Atiku should resign instead.
He asserts that Kwankwaso is in the running to win and that he will become the nation’s next president.
The NNPP spokesperson did not, however, rule out the possibility of alliance talk, which he said would be done on its terms.
When asked about the update on the alleged talks between his party and the presidential campaign team of the Labour Party, Agbo dismissed the report.
“Go and ask Okupe (Dr Doyin Okupe). He was the one who scuttled the first alliance talk because he came into the negotiation with his ‘unusual’ agenda that Obi should be made the president. How can Obi be president over Kwankwaso?”
Also, the National Chairman of NNPP, Rufai Alkali, also shared the same position as Agbo when he described the report as untrue.
He said, “It is completely false. We are not surprised at all that this story is coming out this way at this time. All discerning Nigerians have been following the pattern.
“They first said our candidate was going to step down for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. When we debunked it, they said the NNPP had surrendered to the Labour Party and Peter Obi. When we explained the circumstances, they kept quiet.
“Next, there was an attempt by our elders at the Arewa Consultative Forum dialogue for Presidential candidates to present their manifestos. We agreed with the organizers but we realized that there were forces working to undermine the process by using the platform to endorse a Northern candidate. When Kwankwaso did not appear, that project collapsed.”
