Kwankwaso has no deal with Atiku – Alkali, NNPP chairman

National Chairman of the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP), Professor Ahmed Rufai Alkali, has denied the insinuation that his party presidential candidate, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, would step down for former Vice President and People’s Democratic Party presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar.

Addressing journalists at the National Party Secretariat in Abuja, Professor Alkali claimed that certain elders in the north were mobilized to pressure the NNPP presidential candidate to pull out of the race for Atiku Abubakar in a consensual agreement.

However, Alkali, who did not name the northern elders behind the move, claimed that the NNPP presidential candidate is in the running to win the election.

Alkali urged the PDP presidential candidate to focus on chasing down some governors who have vowed not to support him in his endeavour, rather than aiming for a consensus candidate from the north.

He said: “We are not a party to a consensus settlement. Our candidates for all election offices have campaigned for elections at all levels. “We have no involvement with Atiku Abubakar. He runs his campaign, we run ours. He wants to be president, it is his legitimate right, guaranteed by the Constitution, but our candidate is also a leader and he is eminently qualified.

“We know that he pressured our candidate by using some leaders to talk to Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso.

“For this reason of using people to lobby in his favor, we have shunned involvement in the Northern Elders Forum. We knew the agenda.

“Now they are talking about a national government when we don’t have a parliamentary system. Atiku goes so low and tries to force people to support him. We have 18 political parties in this country and we don’t know why he is so desperate.

“Of course we know his concern: the PDP of today is not the PDP of the time of its founding fathers. The umbrella can’t throw off anyone, it’s in tatters. Five governors are not with him, coming from very powerful states.

“His house, the PDP is out of order, it is so divided, and you want us to come and follow you. The PDP is in tatters and you want us to follow you. Very soon those who have threatened to leave will soon do so. Rabiu Kwankwaso has said that this election is for the people, he campaigned vigorously.

So we distance ourselves from Atiku Abubakar’s endorsement. ”

However, Atiku spokesman Paul Ibe rejected charges of pressure on Rabiu Kwankwaso to withdraw from the race in a northern consensus agreement.

Speak with Grandstand online in a telephone interview, Paul Ibe said he was unaware of any plot for a Northern consensus candidate.

He stated that the PDP presidential candidate has never shrunk his belief in a government of national unity to create a win-win situation for all contenders and relevant stakeholders in the country’s politics.

He said: “Atiku is not building a Northern consensus, but a Nigerian consensus. Yes, he is from Adamawa in the north, but he is a Nigerian. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is preparing to run Nigeria, not elections.

“He is a visionary and that explains why he is pushing for a government of national unity to ease tensions in the country. Atiku is a win-win situation for everyone. It’s ridiculous for anyone to say they’re trying to build a northern consensus. ”

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