Presidency 2023: Kwankwaso, Obi negotiates merger to unseat APC, PDP

 The presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), former Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State on Saturday revealed the ongoing negotiation between NNPP and the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, for an alliance towards building a formidable force to unseat the two dominant political parties on the country, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general elections. Kwankwaso further said that a committee is already constituted to work out the details of the alliance of the two parties for the 2023 elections.

Kwankwaso berated the APC and the PDP for putting the southeast in the dark corner of the country’s political landscape, saying that none of the two parties picked a vice presidential candidate from the southeast for the 2023 elections. The former Kano governor had earlier disclosed that he would have picked obi as his running mate if the former Anambra State governor had not defected to the Labour Party from the PDP.

However, the LP had also been in search of a stronger coalition towards the 2023 elections.

Kwankwaso speaking on British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa Service on Saturday, asserted: “It is true we are in talks with Peter Obi and a committee is working to look into how to form a merger between us.

“Friends and family are being up and doing talking about the merger arrangement.

“The merger is important because as you can see both the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did not pick their running mates from the Southeast.”

Kwankwaso has a large army of followers in Kano State, extending to the peripheral states. Obi is relying on bloc votes from the southeast. The combination of both electoral opportunities could threaten both the PDP and the APC in the 2023 elections.

Meanwhile, one of the presidential candidates will have to step down for the other after  the alliance negotiation.