As political parties battle to elect their flag bearers for the 2023 general elections, a former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso has emerged as the Presidential Candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
A sole aspirant of the party, Kwankwaso emerged through a voice vote by delegates at the party’s National Convention held at the Velodrome of the “Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja on Wednesday.
In his acceptance speech, the former Defence Minister applauded all those who dropped their presidential aspirations for him and the delegates that elected him.
He said that he would do whatever mattered to ensure the success of NNPP and its candidates for various elective positions in the 2023 general elections.
“Our party is so lucky, to have young men and women with integrity contesting various positions in 2023
“While congratulating all of us, I want to urge Nigerians to vote for NNPP,
He said that NNPP stood for peace, unity, stability and development of Nigeria.
Kwankwaso urged the delegates and party members not to go back home and sleep but to keep convincing eligible voters across all ethnic groups and religions to vote for NNPP in the 2023 general elections.
Kwankwaso had earlier pledged that when elected, his administration would carry citizens along without favour on ethnicity or religious bias.
He also promised that his administration would provide the necessary infrastructure for the development of Nigeria.
“Our government will ensure that adequate roads are provided, ensure that trains are working.
“We are going to improve the aviation industry to make it more effective and affordable so that many people as possible can travel either by road by water or by air in this country,” he said.
He urged all party members and supporters to register and get their Permanent Voter Cards before the suspension of registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by June 30, to enable them to vote in the 2023 general elections.
“Don’t just say that you are supporting NNPP without getting your PVC, go and register with INEC.
“Ensure that your family members, your friends and everyone around you register and vote,” Kwankwaso said.
Also at the venue, the former Governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, described the convention as a moment of change for Nigeria.
“This is a moment of change for our youths and women. Change for our economy and change for the nation.
“Nigeria is a potentially great nation. What we need is purposeful and committed leadership.
“We need a leadership that will give a sense of belonging to every citizen and entire ethnics of the country,” Shekarau said.
Also, Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State, emerged as the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) after winning the party’s presidential primary election held at the Orchid Hotel in Asaba, Delta State.
Obi, who picked the nomination forms of the LP consequent upon dumping the PDP recently, garnered 96 votes of the 97 valid votes cast at the primary election, the returning officer, Aliyu Abdullahi, announced before declaring him as the LP presidential standard-bearer in the 2023 general election.
A total of 104 delegates, drawn from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja, were duly cleared to vote but only 98 votes were cast. Obi got 96, Prof Pat Utomi got one vote and one vote was invalid.
Three other presidential aspirants, including Prof. Pat Utomi, Charles Uchenna and the youngest aspirant, Joseph Oluwadare Faduri, had stepped down for Obi while a fourth, and only female aspirant, Olubusola Emmanuel-Tella also announced that she too was stepping down for Peter Obi, midway after commencement of voting by the delegates.
Speaking after receiving the LP Presidential Flag, Obi said that his mission in the Labour Party was to lead the charge towards building a new Nigeria Nation through revamping of the economy, effectively tackling insecurity, addressing education problems and upping the general standard of living of Nigerians by ending wastages in government.
The Labour Party flag-bearer also spoke authoritatively about his credentials in business and financial management, especially as the Anambra State governor.
Obi said, “I will show you that this country called Nigeria will start seeing the face of hope if we all work hard to bring in a new government that would harness people’s talents to march up opportunities, a government that would plug leakages and curb wastage, a government that can look into the future of our children and know we cannot continue this gangsterism and stealing of government assets.
“Let me tell you, I have got a simple mission, Nigeria is not a productive country. I just want to remove it from consumption, from sharing to production.
“If you listen carefully, you hear people talk about 100 million living in poverty. Why do we have insecurity as a problem? The number one to fight insecurity is to pull people out of poverty. When you have over 20 million out of school, then we have a problem, we will invest in education.
The reason we don’t have power in Nigeria is that our leaders have chosen not to do so.
“Go and ask about what I did in Anambra State. I left Diamond Bank of Nigeria $50 million and N12 billion. I left Fidelity Bank with $56 million and N12 billion.
“They are banks in Nigeria you can go and verify. Since I left office as governor of Anambra State, the state has not bought me pure water.”
He noted that leaders in the First Republic had better long-term plans for the socio-economic development of Nigeria.
“The first time this country borrowed money in September 1964 was when Tafawa Balewa wrote the World Bank for $82 million to build the Kainji Dam. And, he said it then that he was applying to build the facility, 760 megawatts of electricity for the growth of the country. Fifty-eight years after, we are still struggling with 4,000 megawatts.
“As of today, Nigeria is owing $120 billion. Imagine if we had used that money for power, we would have be generating over 40,000 megawatts of electricity. But we consumed the money, and that is why we find it difficult to service debt. If you have 40,000 megawatts of electricity, you will be able to set up industries and factories in all the local government areas.
“We are a people of 200 million and we are generating 4,000. South Africa is just 60 million but they are generating 54,000 megawatts. Egypt with a 100 million population is generating 54,000. What will shock you is that Egypt doubled their own, between 2016 and 2020. It was 22,000. It can be done in Nigeria it is not rocket science, what we need here is a leader with a vision, capacity, and competence to deliver.
“My dear people, for the sake of our children, let us stop this otherwise it will take a toll on them and ruin their future irredeemably”, Obi said.
Earlier, solidarity messages were presented by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and others.
