Kwankwaso, Obi rebuff Atiku, warn against name-dropping
The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) has dissociated itself from any alliance with the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
The party also called on the PDP presidential candidate to henceforth stop the name-dropping and urged Atiku to step down for NNPP’s presidential candidate, Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, whom they described as a younger brother to the ex-vice president.
NNPP national chairman, Professor Rufai Ahmed Alkali, issued this warning at a press briefing in Abuja Wednesday.
He noted that for some time now, Atiku has been making this claim, especially, when he got some Northern elders to make the claim that Kwankwaso had collapsed his structures into the PDP.
He stated that there was nothing like an alliance with Atiku as the presidential candidate of NNPP had been busy doing door-to-door as well as local government to local government campaigns.
According to him, Kwankwaso had covered 500 out of the 774 local governments and would soon embark on similar campaigns in the South-South and South-East.
While noting that there was no ground for Kwankwaso to step down for Atiku, Alkali said the PDP of today is not the same formed by principled persons like Abubakar Rimi, Sule Lamido, Adamu Ciroma, and Sunday Awoniyi, among others, adding that “the party has lost its colour.”
He noted that five governors had already opted out of the Atiku contest while three others were ready to leave the party.
“Five governors are not with Atiku. These governors are coming from powerful states. Three others have been sending messages that they will not support Atiku.
“We thought that anyone contesting an election should put his house together. We left the PDP because we knew it would implode. It is not the same party as yesterday. In the next one week, some will leave the PDP.
“What Kwankwanso is doing is unprecedented and that is why they are afraid. This election is for the people. Today, no presidential candidate has done what Kwankwaso has done in this election.
“To set the record straight, we have no engagement with Atiku Abubakar at whatever level. Kwankwaso has served this country at every level. NNPP dissociates itself fully from the antics of Atiku Abubakar,” Alkali said.
Obi’s LP also snubs Atiku
Similarly, head of media, Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, Diran Onifade, denied talks with the PDP flag bearer.
Speaking in a statement Wednesday, Onifade said: “We have been inundated with enquiries about the claim of an on-going discussion between our presidential ticket and the camp of PDP’s Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
“For emphasis, we wish to repeat, as we have said all day, that the claim is totally false and baseless. We are not in any talks with Atiku or anyone else with a view to stepping down from a race in which we are the frontrunner.
“Peter Obi is in the contest to win in consonance with the aspiration of the majority of Nigerians who desire a New Nigeria devoid of lies, corruption, and selfish scheming.”
Share your thoughts on the story Kwankwaso, Obi rebuff Atiku, warn against name-dropping with Nigerian Sketch in the comments section