Alliance between LP, NNPP dead, Kwankaso trying to gain from Peter Obi’s popularity –Okupe

Doyin Okupe, the placeholder vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), says talks on an alliance between his party and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) came to nothing.

Speaking on Tuesday in an interview with Channels Television, Okupe said the negotiations ended along time ago.

Okupe noted that the NNPP was only trying to ride on the coattail of Peter Obi’s popularity by constantly broaching the subject of the alliance that didn’t materialise.

He also said the influence of Rabiu Kwankwaso, the NNPP presidential flagbearer of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) is limited to Kano, adding that the latter doesn’t have the capacity to fulfill the aspirations of youths on national development.

“For Kwankwaso to come on national television to play an ethnic card, saying the north will not vote for a candidate in the south-east, this is a man that is electorally restricted to Kano and that’s the problem,” Okupe said.

“He’s judging everybody else in the north with the prism of what he sees in the Kwankwasiyya movement in Kano.

“How do you measure seniority in politics? Is it age or how many years you’ve been in politics? And that’s not the issue right now. The issue is who can solve the problem facing the country. What Kwankwaso is delving into and relying on is that he’s been speaker of the house of assembly, a senator, a governor for two terms. That doesn’t answer the question the young Nigerians are asking.

“The young Nigerians are saying ‘our future is in dire straits and we need a man that can drive the country well’. Kwankwaso has nothing in his background that convinces anybody that he can match Peter Obi. It’s not a matter of seniority; it’s a matter of capacity.

“Those discussions about mergers, alliance were led by me from our side and it’s dead and buried. The Labour Party and its presidential candidate have long since withdrawn from that conversation. It was NNPP that tried to continue to benefit from the traction of the popularity of Obi.

“The talk about the alliance had been dead for over four weeks.”