By Seun Opejobi The National Chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Prof. Rufa’i Ahmed Alkali, has said the party’s presid...
By Seun Opejobi
The National Chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party,
NNPP, Prof. Rufa’i Ahmed Alkali, has said the party’s presidential candidate,
Rabiu Kwankwaso, did not denigrate Igbos.
Alkali said Kwankwaso believes that the Southeast are
forerunners in the country’s political sphere.
He was reacting to a recent comment by the former Kano State
governor that the Southeast was good in business but at the bottom of Nigeria’s
political ladder.
Kwankwaso had made the remark in Gombe State while noting why
he can’t be the running mate of the Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate,
Peter Obi.
However, Alkali said Kwankwaso’s remark was taken out of
context.
In a statement he issued, Alkali said: “Kwankwaso, while
inaugurating the Gombe executive, was quoted as having said Southeast (Igbo
people) are good in business, but at the bottom of politics in Nigeria.
“NNPP wishes to categorically state that the statement was
situated out of context, as the NNPP presidential candidate has always
emphasised that Igbo were frontrunners in the fight for the nation’s struggle
for independence, and had produced the first President of the country in the
person of the late Nnamdi Azikiwe, the first President of the Senate, Dr.
Nwafor Orizu, former Vice President, the late Dr. Alex Ekwueme, four former
Presidents of the Senate from 1999 till date, and other top political office
holders.”
There have been calls for Kwankwaso and Obi’s parties to
merge ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Amid the claims, Kwankwaso was said to have proposed the
position of his running mate to Obi.
But, Obi had dismissed such, stressing that he can’t be
Kwankwaso’s running mate.
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