Former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has explained why he cannot be a running mate to a former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, in the forthcoming presidential election.
Both men are in the race to become the next president when President Muhammadu Buhari completes his second term in office in May 2023.
While Kwankwaso is the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Obi will fly the flag of the Labour Party in the poll.
Amid calls for the duo to form an alliance as an alternative for Nigerians besides the two major political parties – All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the former Kano governor wants his Anambra counterpart to accept to be his running mate.
“The northerner voters have made up their minds on what to do; certainly NNPP, nobody can change it,” he said during his appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics where he was asked who the people of the North would vote for.
Although Kwankwaso said he would not mind the opportunity to become a vice president since he has no job at the moment, he explained the rationale behind contesting the presidential election and a candidate and not a running mate to a south-easterner.
“Unfortunately, there are many issues in the South East, and a northern voter is the worst-hit in this issue of maladministration in this country,” he asserted. “But even under that circumstance, a northern voter also believes that he is better with one united Nigeria.
“Therefore, most of the things that are happening in the South, especially in the South East; people are not comfortable with that and as long as you have somebody from there in any party, it will be very difficult for the northern voters to vote, and that’s the situation now.”
