A human rights activist, Aisha Yesufu, has said the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso should have agreed to be the running mate of Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi.
Yesufu noted this in an interview with Sunday PUNCH.
Aisha Yesufu
According to Yesufu, Obi is more competent and has wider acceptance than Kwankwaso.
On the alliance talk that collapsed between NNPP and LP, Yesufu said, "Obi should have been the candidate and Kwankwaso the running mate. This is not about age or who is older. With what is on ground now, Peter Obi is more competent, and we have had eight years of a northerner being a president, so it’s only fair for the presidency to move to the other part of the country to maintain a balance.
"If they win the election, with the current arrangement, it would go back to the North and Kwankwaso could contest. Also, if you look at it in terms of the reach right now, Peter Obi has a wider reach than Kwankwaso."
Citing the case of former President Barack Obama, who had Joe Biden, who was way much older than Obama as his Vice President in the United States of America, she said the 2023 presidential race should not be about age and self interest.
"I think at every moment, it should not be about our selfish interest; it should be about what is good for the nation and people should be able to read the mood of their environment. Something is going on; the Nigerian youths are rallying round Peter Obi, so there is a momentum that is being built around him."
She, therefore, warned politicians saying Obi has no political structures to win the 2023 presidential election to have a rethink because they are doing that at their own peril.
According to her, Nigerians supporting Obi are taking ownership of the movement already, funding his campaign without waiting for him to bring money.
"People are supporting him and they are taking ownership of the movement. It’s not even an Obi’s movement. It’s a movement that has taken a life of its own, and they are saying enough is enough of just waiting that the politicians would do the right thing.
"What have the structures they have had all these years produced other than bloodshed, mayhem and grief. People are tired of that and they want to build their own structures and they are doing it. So, it’s at their own peril to think Peter Obi doesn’t have structure and his supporters are only in the social media.
"People are talking to one another, they understand that they are the structure and they are putting in their all. For years, I have been saying to people that whatever we do, we must ensure we are putting our money where our votes are and it is so gratifying to see Nigerians do that."
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