The New Nigerian Peoples Party, has explained why its presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, spent time talking about his counterpart from the Labour Party, Peter Obi, at the Chatham House on Wednesday.
Just like the other presidential candidates, Kwankwaso was at the Chatham House to relate with members of the think tank house on the projects he has for Nigeria if elected as President come February.
There in London, the Kano-born politician said he was willing to step down for any candidate who was better than him at managing the nation’s resources.
The NNPP’s standard bearer knocked Obi, a former Anambra governor
Kwankwaso said he is a PhD holder with over 30 years in politics; hence he’s more qualified than Obi to rule Nigeria.
But appearing on Arise Television’s The Morning Show on Thursday, the National Secretary of NNPP, Folashade Aliu, clarified some of her principal’s comments.
“I want to debunk the report that distinguished Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso said he would step down. He never said that,” she said.
“What he said yesterday at the Chartham House was that if you have a more qualified candidate you will speak. We’ll discuss.
“Then, in terms of the Labour Party candidate, we understand that a lot is going on social media and we are unshaven that some of these comments are cooked up, and for me it’s blackmailing, and we don’t need to get to that point. What he tried to exhibit yesterday was maturity that it’s not a do-or-die situation.
“If you have somebody who’s better than me we can talk and get on from there. Talking about the Labour Party, initially before the INEC cut off point we were approached and we spoke and lay down our strategies to have conversation but their position was more of ‘is the turn of the South East and they were willing to look at what we put on the table so that we can have a good discussion. They weren’t flexible, open minded And objective “