Rabiu Kwankwaso, the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), slammed his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Atiku Abubakar, on Monday, saying any party that cannot govern Lagos, Kano, and Rivers states should forget about the 2023 presidential election.
Kwankwaso stated this when he commissioned the Mgbutanwo Internal Roads in Rivers State’s Emohua Local Government Area at the invitation of Governor Nyesom Wike.
The former Kano governor also called out some PDP leaders as stiff and self-centered.
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He said, “Many people have made so many mistakes, many people don’t understand. Some leaders are very rigid, rigid in the sense that whether they are failing or winning, they will stick to one idea, they will stick to one candidate not minding the consequences, not minding the feelings of the people involved
“We have seen people in my former party that all they want is to get the presidential ticket. They are ready to do anything to have ticket.
“Any party that cannot control two of the three states – Kano, Lagos and Rivers is out. He (Wike) has been saying it and people have not taken note of it. Anyway, by now, with Kwankwaso out of that party, Wike struggling to be there or not to be there, somehow things are moving, certainly Lagos is not their own, one begins to wonder how they will win the election of 2023.”
Kano received over 1.8 million cumulative votes, the most of any state in the 2019 presidential election, while Lagos received over one million total votes and Rivers received approximately 600,000 total votes, all of which were primarily shared between the APC’s Muhammadu Buhari and the PDP’s Atiku Abubakar.
Other states with large numbers of voters based on previous elections include Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa, Plateau, and Bauchi, among others.
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Wike and four other PDP governors, known as the G5, have been fighting what they call northern dominance within the party for months. The G5, also known as the Integrity Group, has demanded that Iyorchia Ayu resign as PDP national chairman as a condition for supporting the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Kwankwaso informed Rivers Governor on Monday that he saw what Wike now sees in the PDP very early, which led to his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in December 2013 and eventually to the NNPP in March 2022. Kwankwaso also stated that he left the APC in 2018 and rejoined the PDP since the ruling party showed to be worse than the PDP.
“Unfortunately, some of us see what you, your excellency, did not see in time. That was why we decided in 2013-14 to bring some changes in the political architecture of this country, that was why we formed the APC believing that the party was going to be a progressive party that will sort out the issues were concerned about at that time.
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“Unfortunately, this party proved overtime in the opinion of many people especially in the PDP that it is worse than the PDP itself,” he said.
The former minister thanked Wike for standing firm and for telling the truth, saying he is a member of his socio-political movement, Kwankwasiyya.
“Let me thank you for standing firm. I thank you for telling the truth at any given time, not minding what they think or do.
“Your excellency, without putting on red cap, I can tell you, you are a member of the Kwankwasiyya any day, anytime because in Kwankwasiyya you don’t have to put on red caps; many people in this country put on their red caps in their hearts. It is there and I believe you are one of us.”
Kwankwaso also stated that Wike’s Integrity Group is doing the right thing by consulting and weighing its options, noting that posterity will judge the group if necessary actions are not taken.
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“Let me at this point congratulate Governor Wike for leading the Integrity Group.
“I believe they are good people and I know that by the grace of God, the Integrity Group will do the right thing as soon as possible because I believe they are people of integrity, and of course, the posterity will judge them based on the action they take,” he stated.
While Wike and his allies have not been seen campaigning for Atiku, it is unclear whether they will back Kwankwaso, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, or APC’s Bola Tinubu in the race for Aso Rock’s top job, which analysts and keen observers have described as a three-horse race.
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