2023: Obasanjo meets Abdulsalami, Babangida in Minna

 

.Says I don’t have special presidential candidate

.Poll, contest between masses and the elites– Kwankwaso

 

AHMED MARI, Maiduguri and VICTORY ORIMEMI, Lagos with agency report

Few days after brokering a  meeting between the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi and Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, in London, former President Olusegun Obasanjo Sunday met behind closed doors with two ex-military leaders retired Generals Abdulsalami Abubakar and Ibrahim Babangida.

Though Obasanjo said that he does not have a special candidate in the 2023 presidential election after separate meetings with the duo in Minna, Niger State capital, sources disclosed that the former intimated the hosts with his preferred candidate for the 2023 presidential election.

 

The leading candidates in  next year’s poll are Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC;  Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party; Mr. Peter Obi of the LP and Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP.

 

But speaking with  newsmen shortly after he paid a visit to former Head of State, retired Gen. Abdulsalami Obasanjo said that he does not have a special candidate in the 2023 presidential election.

 

He said: “I don’t have a special candidate, as far as 2023 presidential election is concerned.

 

“I have come to see my brother who was a bit indisposed and when he was abroad I had wanted to visit him, and the day I arrived in London to visit him was the day he left.

 

“So, I said, well, since I could not see him in London, I will come to see him in Nigeria. And so, that is what I have come to do.

 

“He is special in a way and he was indisposed, so I had to come and see him.

 

”If there is anybody again who is special and indisposed that I have to see, I will see him. I am still strong enough”.he said.

 

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Obasanjo had also visited ex-President, retired Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, where they held a closed door meeting.

 

Meanwhile, Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has said the 2023 general election is a contest between masses and the elites that did not mean well for the country.

 

Kwankwaso who disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Maiduguri on Sunday said “every Nigerian is suffering, as a result of the misrule of the APC and PDP and that was why we floated the  NNPP to give Nigerian masses an alternative, as NNPP has come to salvage Nigeria and Nigerians from  situations we found ourselves”.

 

“The situation we found ourselves cannot be solved by the APC or PDP. Nigerians are now aware of this, that was why everywhere we go we are being received by mammoth crowd, as attested by the crowd that received us yesterday in Maiduguri, despite the rain”, he stressed.

 

He said that Nigeria is at the verge of collapse and  something need to be  done quickly to salvage the country, stressing that  Boko Haram, banditry, kidnapping, unemployment are all product of bad governance.

 

“I am happy to see  people defied rainfall to receive us from the airport to our state office, Forshams  Event Centre and to this place. It took about one hour to get to our office, this party is less than 6 months but you can see the crowd we are pulling. NNPP is the only party that has structure at the grassroots level and 100 percent candidates in all elective positions, only God knows how  we would surprise people come 2023 general election, see how our party is  growing by the day and before 2023 election we would surprise them “,

 

Also addressing party supporters at the weekend in Maiduguri, Dr Kwankwaso, said “in Kano every party  member is an agent and will stand to defend his  vote. If we can replicate this in Borno  we will win the election 2023 Insha Allah”.

 

He urged Nigerians, especially the people of Borno state to replicate Kano magic in Borno and the country at large by  protecting their votes.

 

“Our presences here today in Maiduguri has shown that God has brought change to Maiduguri and by the grace of God we are going to unseat APC in the state”, he added.

 

He also said  the NNPP will unseat the All Progressive Congress (APC), government led by Governor Babagana Zulum in the state, adding that the party has come to salvage Borno masses from APC’s misrule.

 

Kwankwaso who is also a fomer Governor of Kano state and minister of defence said “if elected as President come 2023 general election, I am going to tackle Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, and  other crimes, as well as create more jobs to our teeming youths.”

 

Also speaking, the Chairman Board of Trustees of the NNPP, Alhaji Buba Galadima accused  the ruling APC government in the state of  sending two trucks loaded with ballot paper to Cameroon Republic during the 2019 general elections, to rig election in the state and urged the people of Borno to resist rigging come 2023 general election, stressing that they are going give them their  rigging clue.

 

He advised Nigerians to shun both the PDP and APC because the two parties are anti masses.

 

In his remarks, the Governorship candidate of the NNPP, Dr Umar Nasco said since the inception of the current democratic government in 1999, Borno never had a strong opposition, until now that NNPP is poised to unseat APC in the state.

 

“Today is a happiest day in my life, as it is a day that we received our leader and a day for the libration of the people of Borno. Despite what the opposition did to stop this gathering, today we are happy to receive our leader, I am assuring you that we are going wrestle power from APC in the state, as the state used to be single party state but thank God today we have a formidable opposition and we are determined to unseat APC ruling government in the state “, he added..

 

Also contributing, the Borno Central. senatorial candidate of the NNPP,  Alhaji Atom Msgira said  ” with the crowd we have seen, the NNPP has won all elective positions in the state, we are only waiting for the declaration by the INEC”.

 

In his welcome address, the state  Chairman of the NNPP, Barr Mohammed Mustapha said  “today is the day people of Borno have been waiting, the day to show to the world that NNPP is determined to win election in the state and you have seen despite the rain, people came out en-masse to receive our leader