A human rights activist, Aisha Yesufu, has declared that Labour Party presidential flag-bearer, Peter Obi, is a more competent hand for Nigerian presidency than his New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) counterpart, Senator Musa Kwankwaso.
Yesufu disclosed this in an interview she granted The Punch prior to the collapse of the proposed alliance between the two presidential candidates.
Obi and the former two-term Kano State Governor failed to broker an alliance following disagreement on who would deputise the other.
The duo were hoping to leverage the popularity they both command in their various regions to put forward a strong alliance that would give the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a run for their money in the 2023 presidential election.
However, the talks have since broken down and Obi has settled for another northerner, Datti Baba-Ahmed, as his running mate.
Meanwhile, the activist had said the former Anambra State Governor is more suitable to be the president, while Kwankwaso should have agreed to run as his vice presidential candidate.
Competence aside, Yesufu also argued that it’d also be fair to have a southerner as the next president after the eight years of a northerner.
She said, “In my opinion, 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. It’s my opinion and others could have theirs. Given the critical times we are in, it’s not to say he (Kwankwaso) would collapse his structure.
“We are already telling people to vote for candidates, not the political party. People who already won the party’s ticket for other positions like state and national assemblies and governorship would still fly the party’s flag. If they are competent persons, people would still vote for them.
“At the end of the day, you would have what you normally have in a parliamentary system where you have like two parties coming together to form a government. That’s what it would have been like. We look forward to seeing what both of them would come up with eventually,” the activist told The Punch.
Pulse reports that Obi, while announcing his choice of running mate, said he wants a running mate who has something to offer to complement his ticket rather than recycling old hands who had been in the government before now.
