Obi, Kwankwaso will not step down for Atiku - Parties disclose

The Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has stated on Wednesday, February 1, 2023 that their presidential candidates would not step down from the presidential race for the Peoples Democratic Party's candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

The two opposition parties made this known as the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council advised the LP standard bearer, Peter Obi and his NNPP counterpart, Rabiu Kwankwaso, to not put their trust in Atiku.

The PCC sent out the warning after claims by Atiku that he was in talks with Obi and Kwankwaso ahead of the elections.

Atiku in an interview with the BBC Hausa revealed that talks were ongoing between him and the LP and NNPP candidates.

However, reacting to the reported talks, the Spokesman of the APC Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, advised Nigerians to ignore Atiku, describing him as a man that cannot be trusted even by the leaders of his own party.

Keyamo said, “Atiku is lying; he is not in talks with anyone. Atiku cannot be trusted and that is why he can’t keep his party together.

"He has not been able to reach an agreement with the aggrieved governors of his party because those governors know that he does not keep his word.

“Kwankwaso left PDP because he was humiliated in the North-West. The PDP treated Peter Obi badly and the man left. These are the men Atiku is giving the impression that they are ready to work with him. It is all lies,” he insisted.

The Director-General of the LP Presidential Campaign Council, Akin Oshuntokun, said Obi had no intention of striking a deal with Atiku except the latter agreed to step down for the former Anambra State governor.

He said: “How can that be? To what purpose? For Obi to come and support a ticket, that is a fundamental threat to the national unity of Nigeria?

“Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar is welcome to renounce his ticket and throw his considerable political weight behind us. No individual ambition should override the North/ South rotation convention, especially against the backdrop of the damage that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) has wreaked on the unity of Nigeria with his apartheid-style nepotism."

The National Publicity Secretary of the NNPP, Major Agbor also urged Atiku to join the Kwankwaso train, saying, “He is not on the ground. He is the one to step down for our candidate, not the other way around. There are talks and there would be no talks in this direction except the former vice-president is throwing his weight of support for Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso.”

BEB