By Chinelo Obogo
A chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Buba Galadima, has said contrary to speculations, his party has no plans to merge with the Labour Party (LP).
Speaking on Arise TV, yesterday, Galadima, close associate of the presidential candidate of the NNPP and former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, said his party’s candidate is negotiating an alliance with the presidential candidate of the LP, Peter Obi, and not a merger of both parties.
Galadima said he spearheaded one of the sessions which, he said lasted 13 hours and that all the issues raised were agreed upon except who will be the presidential candidate and running mate in the alliance.
“We do not have any plan for a merger with LP, what we are discussing is an electoral alliance between the candidate of NNPP, Kwankwaso and candidate of LP, Obi.
“I chaired the negotiation for the alliance for 13 good hours and we have an understanding on almost all the issues raised except one and that is, who should be the presidential candidate and who should be the running mate.
“I also want to say those who say it is insulting to ask Obi to deputise for Kwankwaso are not politicians. If they are politicians, they would not have said that because they just started a movement two months ago while the Kwankwasiya movement has been on the ground for 32 years.
“The main objective of the Kwankwasiya movement is to make sure Kwankwaso becomes the president of Nigeria because he has a lot to offer. No Nigerian living today has ever performed as he did while in public office.
“We need someone with the capacity to run this country and using any parameter, I can’t see anything that would place the candidate of the LP on the same level with Kwankwaso, but he has a lot to gain because he is only 60 years old while Kwankwaso is 65.
“Today, the sentiments is that at 77, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, is too old and that the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, is also too old.
“If you allow Kwankwaso to be president and Obi will be his deputy, it means by the time Kwankwaso completes his tenure, Obi would have been 68 years and would still be young enough to be president. The kind of economy that Obi has managed as Anambra State governor is unprecedented, therefore, the vice president’s province, which is the management of the economy and Kwankwaso manages the development of country, it will unify the country and it would be a seamless transition.”