The presidential candidates of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso and Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi have denied any alliance talks with the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
The NNPP specifically asked Atiku to step down for Kwankwaso who is younger and has fresh ideas.
Atiku was reported to have said he was in talks with Obi and Kwankwaso ahead of this month’s presidential election.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday at the NNPP national headquarters, the party’s national chairman, Prof Rufai Ahmed Alkali, said their members are worried over Atiku’s statement insisting that they are not in alliance talk with the PDP.
“We are not in talk with Atiku. He should know that there are other people who have the right to be president and Kwankwaso has done a lot for Nigerians and Nigeria. Kwankwaso is a forerunner in the contest. “The idea of the northern agenda is not true. The election of 2023 is different.
Some leaders whose agenda is to work for some candidate, want a northern candidate. We kept quiet when Atiku said he was the Northern candidate. They talk about a government of national unity.
“Nobody is talking about that when it is convenient but we have no talk with Atiku and we are not planning an alliance with Atiku. He should respect his age and he can’t force anyone to endorse him,” Alkali said.
The Labour Party (LP) also denied having talks with Atiku.
Head of Media, Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, Diran Onifade, in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, said claims that Obi was in talks with Atiku with a view to stepping down for the PDP Presidential candidate was “totally false and baseless.”
The statement reads: “We have been inundated with enquiries about the claim of an ongoing 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.”