Obi, Kwankwaso won’t step down for Atiku – LP, NNPP

Labour Party and the New Nigeria Peoples Party on Wednesday denied that there were talks by their presidential candidates Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar to step down for their counterpart in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar.

The two opposition parties said this after Atiku claimed he is in talks with the two camps to work together in the coming elections.

Reacting, the Director-General of the LP Presidential Campaign Council, Akin Oshuntokun told newsmen that Obi had no intention of striking a deal with Atiku except the latter agreed to step down for the former Anambra State governor.

“How can that be? To what purpose? For Obi to come and support a ticket, that is a fundamental threat to the national unity of Nigeria?

“Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar is welcome to renounce his ticket and throw his considerable political weight behind us. No individual ambition should override the North/ South rotation convention, especially against the backdrop of the damage that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) has wreaked on the unity of Nigeria with his apartheid-style nepotism.’’

Also dismissing Atiku’s overtures to Obi, the Spokesman for the LP PCC, Kenneth Okonkwo, tweeted, “It is gratifying to hear that Atiku is considering stepping down for Peter Obi in the presidential race.

‘’Coming on the heels of Atiku’s confession of using Special Purpose Vehicles to siphon Nigeria’s money, according to Michael Achimugu, this is the wisest thing to do him. That is the only way they talk he is initiating that can make sense.

“Please disregard any other assertion from the lying PDP because the only honourable thing left for Atiku to do is an unconditional stepping down for Peter Obi to usher in a new Nigeria.’’

Similarly, the National Publicity Secretary of the NNPP, Major Agbor, urged Atiku to join the Kwankwaso train, saying, “he is not on the ground. He is the one to step down for our candidate, not the other way around. There are talks and there would be no talks in this direction except the former vice-president is throwing his weight of support for Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso.”