Tobias Sylvester
A former House of Representatives member, Abdulmumin Jibrin says the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso has inherited the 12 million northern votes controlled by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Jibrin Says Kwankwaso Won’t Step Down For Tinubu
The former lawmaker, who is the spokesperson of the Kwankwaso presidential campaign, spoke on Friday during an interview with Channels Television.
He was reacting to speculations that Kwankwaso might step down for Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the 2023 election.
According to him, Kwankwaso is not considering merging with Tinubu because no presidential candidate will get more votes than him in the northern region of the country.
Jibrin said, “We have debunked these lies over and over again. It is an attempt to give a wrong impression to the public for one or two parties to be able to raise their standing in public.
“Kwankwaso is a practical politician, we are serious-minded people. We are not in this race for anyone and I have said it over and over again.
“People should disregard all these rumours that ‘Kwankwaso is working for Asiwaju, We are going to merge with APC’. How will he do that? Somebody who is controlling the heart of the north. Somebody who is the beneficiary of the 12 million Buhari’s votes.
“Kwankwaso is the most popular person, most loved. He is the person who is going to control those votes. Now look at the dynamics of the election today, there is no sitting governor in the northern part of the country that is contesting for the presidency so every governor has its peculiar challenges in his state.
“What the governors are interested in is to deliver their states. They know it is dangerous for you within your states to say you are going against Kwankwaso because Kwankwaso has his own direct connection with the masses.
“In the entire northern part of the country, nobody is going to get the quantum of votes, Kwankwaso is going to pull out.”
Meanwhile, a former governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau had recently confirmed his plans to dump the NNPP following alleged betrayal by Rabiu Kwankwaso.
