2023: Kwankwaso opens on plans to step down for Tinubu

The presidential Candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Sunday, asked those expecting him to step down for another flag bearer to perish the thought because “for us in the NNPP and Kwankwansiya, our party is on the right track to clinch the leadership of the country.”

Kwankwaso, who stressed that NNPP was poised to win the presidential poll, said any candidate thinking of stepping down now when the window for mergers and alliances had closed was not being fair to himself.

“The reports of my stepping down are coming from detractors who go about concocting stories to suit their mind. Anybody who thinks of stepping down at this stage is not fair to himself because the time for merger, alliances, etc, has gone. NNPP is all out to win the 2023 elections. The other parties are going down in terms of support and popularity and there is nothing any of them can do to stop this misfortune.

“Now, people are not talking about parties. They are talking about candidates and individuals. The APC and PDP have failed Nigerians. That is why we are in this mess today. I am ready for debates. Let us put our cards on the table. Some of the candidates are running away from debates. Some of them should look at themselves in the mirror and tell themselves the truth. Some of them are our seniors. You cannot cheat nature. Anybody who says 2023 is his turn is making a huge mistake.

“In 2007, Yar’Adua was nominated as PDP candidate without consultation. There was no serious consultation. We knew things but there was no consultation and so we ran into trouble (with Yar’Adua’s ill health, attendant controversies, and using doctrine of necessity to swear in Dr Goodluck Jonathan as acting president, and his death). Today, that episode is recurring. Some people thought by becoming vice president they would soon be president.”