Doyin Okupe says proposed LP-NNPP alliance is dead

The placeholder vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Doyin Okupe has confirmed that the proposed alliance between his party and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) is dead.

Okupe said the influence of Rabiu Kwankwaso, the NNPP presidential flagbearer of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) is limited to Kano.

The placeholder said this on Tuesday, July 5, 2022, in an interview with Channels Television.

According to Okupe, Kwankwaso doesn’t have the capacity to fulfill the aspirations of youths on national development.

He said, “For Kwankwaso to come on national television to play an ethnic card, saying the north will not vote for a candidate in the south-east, this is a man that is electorally restricted to Kano and that’s the problem.

“He’s judging everybody else in the north with the prism of what he sees in the Kwankwasiyya movement in Kano.

“How do you measure seniority in politics? Is it age or how many years you’ve been in politics? And that’s not the issue right now. The issue is who can solve the problem facing the country. What Kwankwaso is delving into and relying on is that he’s been speaker of the house of assembly, a senator, a governor for two terms. That doesn’t answer the question the young Nigerians are asking.

“The young Nigerians are saying ‘our future is in dire straits and we need a man that can drive the country well’. Kwankwaso has nothing in his background that convinces anybody that he can match Peter Obi. It’s not a matter of seniority; it’s a matter of capacity.

“Those discussions about mergers, alliance were led by me from our side and it’s dead and buried. The Labour Party and its presidential candidate have long since withdrawn from that conversation. It was NNPP that tried to continue to benefit from the traction of the popularity of Obi.

“The talk about the alliance had been dead for over four weeks.”

Okupe doubles as the Director-General of the Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Organisation and placeholder vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party.

Before joining the LP, he was a Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs.