PRESIDENTIAL candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi has ended all alliance talks with the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
Director-General of the Peter Obi Campaign Organisation Doyin Okupe disclosed this on Tuesday when he appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“That discussion, or those discussions about a merger, alliance and all that were led by me from our side; it is dead. Dead and buried.
“It is not Mr Peter Obi. The Labour Party and its presidential candidate have long since withdrawn from that conversation and it was NNPP that continued to try to benefit from the traction of the popularity of Obi. Out of maturity, I decided that we will not take them on media-wise, so we kept quiet, but they kept going on,” Okupe said.
The LP has been in talks with the NNPP in a bid to forge an alliance for the 2023 presidential election.
However, although NNPP presidential candidate Rabiu Kwankwaso recently said the merger is likely to happen, he ruled out the possibility of becoming Obi’s running mate for the 2023 presidential election.
Okupe said the alliance talks between the two political parties did not work out.
“The talk for an alliance had been dead for over four weeks,” he stressed. “I am the leader of the team that went to discuss with Kwankwaso’s team, and it was dead.
“The moment I asked them one single question – would they consider it appropriate and okay for a President of Northern extraction and Muslim to finish eight years and another Muslim Northerner from the next state to take over?
“And they said there is nothing wrong with that. As far as I’m concerned, the discussion was over and it has remained over since then.”
Okupe, who is currently the place-holder as Obi’s running mate, also disclosed that the LP candidate would announce a substantive running mate between Wednesday and Friday this week.
According to him, the running mate will be a young vibrant politician from the North with a measure of intellect, sound background, pedigree and education.
“This matter (vice presidential candidate) will be concluded between tomorrow (Wednesday) and Friday. We are looking for a vibrant, able politician from the Northern extraction. The person must have a measure of intellect and sound educational background.”
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