‘I won’t step down for you ’ – Kwankwaso rejects Tinubu’s offer

There seems to be no headway for APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his quest to become the next president of Nigeria in 2023 as all his hope is being punctured from all angles.

The latest is coming from the direction of the presidential candidate of the New Nigerian People Party (NNPP), Sen. Engr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso who has refused to stepdown for him, thereby dashing his hope of penetrating to the core north of Kano, Katsina etc.

It can be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari was highly against the candidature of Bola Tinubu as he presented the Senate President, Sen Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan as his preferred candidate but reluctantly keyed in to support Tinubu now due to the pressure on him by APC governors that power must to the South.

Having realized that Nigerian youths, political leaders and former heads of states have outrightly rejected him due to his old age, mental weakness, lack of knowledge of economy, Muslim-Muslim ticket which they described as harbingers of total collapse and instability of our country, Tinubu began to look elsewhere for support base apart from partial support from his South West region.

At the recently held reconciliation meeting organised by Tinubu camp to beg Kwankwaso in order to collapse his Kwankwasiyya structures into that of Tinubu, the former Kano State Governor totally refused as he openly insisted that it should be Tinubu that should rather do that or they should go to the poll, saying northerners will never support Tinubu.

He added that, he was sure of winning the 2023 presidential election.

All attempts by some emirs, northern political leaders including Gov Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje OFR, Governor Bello Matawalle etc on Kwankwaso to jettison his ambition all fell on his deaf ears as he surprisingly asked them to beg Tinubu to step down for him.

As it stands, both Tinubu and Kwankwaso are in political limbo due as core northerners prefer to vote for one of their own and PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar and the surging popularity & acceptability of the Labour Party candidate, Mr. Peter Obi among youths, past heads of states and most Nigerians who feel disenchanted with APC and PDP leadership and wish to look outside the political norms in Nigeria.

Olikita Ekani, a concerned Nigerian writes from his fishing boat in Makurdi.