There is no reason Rabiu Kwankwaso, should not have earned the endorsement of former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, given the criteria he adduced for endorsing Peter Obi, New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), said on Tuesday, after claiming that the former towered very high over the latter in all ramifications.
NNPP Vice Presidential candidate, Bishop Isaac Idahosa, who advanced the argument, said that Kwankwaso, who is the presidential candidate, superseded Obi, who is currently flying the flag of the Labour Party (LP), even on a day the former Governor of Anambra State, was rewarded with another endorsement by the Convener of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Edwin Clark.
Idahosa, a guest of on Channels Television’s breakfast programme Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, while reacting to the development, which came via an open letter the former President wrote to Nigerian youths on Sunday, New Year, who informed that party had since received a number of endorsements but is keeping them close to the vest, maintained that given Obasanjo’s criteria, Kwankwaso, who served the former President as Minister of Defence in his first term, between 2003 and 2007, ought to have been his choice.
His words: “If I mention to you a few that have endorsed us, you will marvel, and over time, you will begin to see the manifestations of all I’ve been saying. We’ve been doing a whole lot. Peter Obi is endorsed based on what the elder statesman, former president (Obasanjo) said of his track records, which we have even much more.
“We talk about the track record, vision, character, and the physique. These are the things that indeed must be found and seen in any leader as a very good attribute or quality. My own principal, Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has got all this in abundance. Talk about track record, what he’s been able to achieve and he’s still on there as a very proper, visible legacy in Kano, when he was a two-term governor.”
Defending the decision to keep mum on the party’s endorsements, the NNPP vice presidential candidate said the party is “in it to win it.”
He argued that those who “undermine us should go on ahead and undermine us. With the February 25 election on the horizon, you will call me back to say congratulations.
“He is but one among 200 million people endorsing a candidate. So many more will endorse who they want to endorse. He has the entitlement to endorse who he wants to endorse. Why would I be disappointed? The former president has got just one vote to cast.
“It depends on what impact it has on Peter Obi and the Labour Party. But for us, the NNPP, we are never disappointed. It’s just another way to saw, ‘Move on ahead. Get courageous and get at the goal,’” he said.