Nigerians who yearn for the emergence of a strong political platform that can dislodge the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, had their hopes raised when Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ibrahim Abdullahi disclosed that talks are ongoing for a merger of the three leading political parties.
Abdullahi, speaking on Channels TV in September, said the talks involved Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP.
The three heavyweights finished in second, third and fourth positions, respectively, behind APC’s Bola Tinubu in the 2023 presidential poll.
Tinubu won in 12 states, garnering a total of 8,794,726 votes. Atiku also won in 12 states, collecting a total of 6,984,520 votes. Obi equally won 12 states – receiving a total of 6,101,533 votes.
Kwankwaso won in Kano – his stronghold – and finished fourth with a total of 1,496,687 votes.
Obi and Kwankwaso left the PDP in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election.
The PDP deputy national spokesman observed that, if Atiku, Obi and Kwankwaso were to pull their weight together, they would easily defeat the APC. He suggested that such a scenario could play out in 2027.
“This APC said they defeated us with one million plus (votes), just one of these names that I mentioned would have covered that gap for us and we would have been in power today and certainly Nigerians would not have been confronted with this despair and despondency in the land,” he said.
When asked if discussion was ongoing, he said, “Sure, discussion is ongoing. You will see Peter Obi discussing with Atiku, you will see Peter Obi meeting with (Nasir) El-Rufai. One of them would concede to the other and then we would have a direction.”
At a time when many Nigerians are disenchanted with the APC federal government, the revelation that the opposition is working at forging a united front to dislodge the ruling party was met with eager anticipation. This is moreso as the various opposition parties have, so far, proved to be ineffective in challenging the APC as individual entities. It is expected that a collective effort will be more productive.
However, Nigerians who are yearning for the merger have had their hopes deflated by Kwankwaso’s recent comments.
The former Kano State governor declared that he will win the presidential election in 2027, effectively casting doubt on the outcome of the said merger talks.
Kwankwaso made the assertion during the inauguration of the NNPP secretariat in Katsina State on September 7.
In the same breath, the leader of the Kwankwasiyya movement threw jabs at the PDP, fueling bad blood between the NNPP and the PDP, further undermining the possibility of any favourable outcome from the said merger talks.
“I wish to remind you that Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is already dead, because we were in the party, since they have gone out of the line, we decided to check out,” he said, attacking the PDP for no clear reason.
Unexpectedly, PDP came after Kwankwaso with blazing guns, describing the ex-defence minister as an inconsequential politician.
PDP made reference to Kwankwaso’s ‘expulsion’ from the NNPP by a faction of ‘original members’ led by the founder, Chief Boniface Aniebonam, and national chairman, Agbo Major.
Kwankwaso had joined the NNPP with his supporters before the 2023 election – and was eventually given the party’s presidential ticket – but he was subsequently accused of trying to hijack the party from the founder, Aniebonam, and the original members, leading to his expulsion alongside his followers.
But the Kwankwaso camp is still maintaining its NNPP secretariat, which it insists is the authentic leadership of the party. The NNPP’s sole governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State, is a key member of Kwankwaso’s NNPP faction.
Hitting back at Kwankwaso, PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary Debo Ologunagba, said, “Our reaction to the statement credited to Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso is that he is very inconsequential in the Nigerian national politics today, judging from the fact that he is struggling to lead a party called NNPP which is also struggling to control only one state.
“It is unfathomable to imagine that a failed and inconsequential politician with only one state would claim that a party that has 13 governors, many senators, many members of the House of Representatives, control of several states’ House of Assembly and a strong presence in all the local government areas and wards across the country is dead.
“More disturbing is that Senator Kwankwaso has exhibited extreme selfishness and self-centeredness, which shows that he is not a leader.
It is unfortunate that he is up to this at this time when the PDP and patriotic Nigerians are speaking out against the excruciating hardship in the country.
“At this time, Nigerians, including Senator Kwankwaso’s home state, Kano, are dying of hunger and starvation.
“At a time when over 150 million Nigerians have sunk deeper into poverty; when millions of Nigerians are daily losing their means of livelihood; at a time when the naira has fallen to over N1,600 to a dollar with over 34 per cent inflation rate; in the wake of brutal increase in the price of petrol to over N1,200 in various parts of the country, the only thing that occupies Senator Kwankwaso’s mind is his self-centred pipe dream of becoming President.”
Kwankwaso’s presidential ambition had proved to be a stumbling block to proposed merger of political parties in the past.
In the build up to the 2023 election, Kwankwaso had disclosed that the NNPP was considering the possibility of teaming up with the LP for the general elections. But for Kwankwaso, the planned merger can only work on one condition – he will be the presidential candidate while Obi would become his running mate.
“The major issue as it stands today is the issue of who becomes the President and who becomes the Vice President and I believe this is the time really to advise – especially those who are positively behind the candidate of the Labour Party – that for me, I have seen an opportunity for the South-East to be relevant in the next dispensation,” he said on Channels TV, while declaring that northern voters have made up their mind to vote for him.
“The northern voters have made up their minds on what to do; certainly NNPP, nobody can change it,” he said, adding that northerners cannot vote for a candidate from the South-East.
After the proposed merger between NNPP and Labour Party for the 2023 presidential poll collapsed, Kwankwaso dismissed the LP as a media sensation.
“On Labour Party, I was initially interested in working with them. But at that time, they were at the peak of the media hype and we couldn’t reach a compromise. Our party (NNPP) is a national party, and we’re commanding the support of the masses.
“If you have a party which is based on ethnicity and religion, that is the difference between the Labour party and our party, which is a national party, New Nigeria Peoples Party,” he explained.
Political economist Pat Utomi had in January confirmed that Atiku, Obi and Kwankwaso had agreed to form a formidable party that will sack the ruling APC in 2027.
However, the three politicians and their parties have been sending out mixed signals concerning the planned merger, refusing to outrightly confirm, or deny, the reports.
While it is expected that three of them will still be in the conversation by the time the next presidential election comes around in 2027, Kwankwaso is the only one who has openly declared his intention to contest the election.
This suggests that, going by Kwankwaso’s stance, for any merger between the three to work, Atiku and Obi would have to step down their presidential ambition and support him.
Sources have also informed NewsNGR that it is unlikely that either Obi or Atiku could step down for each other as both are also believed to nurse presidential ambition for 2027.
Meanwhile, speaking with NewsNGR on the issue, chairman of the NNPP in Kano, Hashimu Suleiman Dungurawa noted that it is still early to talk of merger. But he confirmed that Kwankwaso would contest the 2027 presidential election.
Asked about the possibility of a merger between Kwankwaso, Atiku and Obi for the 2027 election, Dungurawa said, “You see in politics every issue has its time and the time for merger has not come. So bringing up the issue now, I think one has to be very careful and watchful because the time is not right. We are not in panic. Until the time comes we will see what happens.”
Asked if Kwankwaso will run for President in 2027, considering his assertion that he will win the election, the Kano NNPP chairman replied: “That one is for sure. Our leader is the best among all the contestants and among all the aspirants. Also, among all the political parties, the only party that remains focused and firm is the NNPP.”
He added, “If you talk of the APC, everybody is scared because you don’t even know what they are and what they are doing. You voted for them when you were buying fuel for N147 per litre, now it is costing you more than N1,000. Will you go on that path again? The answer is no.
“PDP have tried in the past, they have done their best but because of their grievances and differences, they don’t even have a leadership.
“How can you go to an organisation where there is no leadership? You are bound to get what you see there. The only party that is firm is NNPP. Our logo, which is a book, says it all. Our Constitution is written in a book.
“The logo also shows our religious inclination and there is no religion that is not written in a book. We are telling people to go to school and get education.
“We are the right people to be in the Presidential Villa so that Nigerians will see something better,” he said.