Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the 2023 elections, Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso, has dismissed speculations of a rotational presidency pact with former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar and a former Labour Party (LP), Presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Kwankwaso gave this clarification in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, monitored in Abuja, on Monday.
He explained that he has not had contact nor held discussions with either of the two politicians in recent times.
According to him, he chose to remain politically neutral until the end of this year to allow governments at all levels to concentrate on the task of governance without any form of distraction.
He accused the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), of trying to use manipulative tactics to secure northern votes in future elections.
The former Kano State Governor explained that any future political arrangement must take into cognizance historical facts and must be put in context.
Kwankwaso said, “For me to accept any arrangement, we have to go back to history, I understand PDP in totality.
“ I know they plan to procure a party or be beating around the bush in other parties, bring us together, make northerners vote for them.
“But what we are asking them is what have they done to the North? These are the kinds of things that will come into play. But in my mind, we have witnessed the worst of humiliation from these people.
“We loved this party, we wanted to rejig it so that we could prosper, but they made us leave by force. Kwankwaso left, Peter Obi left, Wike left and others too, there is no estimate to those who left. Yet, they are the same people coming now to the fore expressing interest in being made president.
“This is appalling, maybe they are remorseful, or they are thinking they want to seek forgiveness or something related to that but we have been humiliated by those people.”
He further said, “I heard from a source that PDP brought in scholars—about 45 of them—and claimed there was a consensus that Atiku will rule for four years, I will rule for another four years, and Peter Obi will rule for eight years. This is a complete lie and has no basis in reality.”
He expressed disappointment that elder statesmen in their 70s and 80s would be among those spreading such mischievous falsehoods.”
Kwankwaso quipped, “Such deceit is part of what led me and others to leave the PDP. These actions have destabilized the party.”
