As the 2023 election gathers steam, Prof. Rufai Alkali, the National Chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), has said that collaboration talks in June with the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, did not manifest because there was no more room for a merger at the time.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that speaking to journalists recently in Abuja, Prof. Alkali said Obi’s camp demanded that the NNPP presidential candidate, Kwankwaso, cedes his presidential ambition to the former Anambra State governor, a wish they turned down.
“First and foremost, I want you to understand that there are three or four levels a party can expand and grow. One is the usual mobilisation of individual members coming on their own or through groups to join the party.
“The second is what we call the merger, where two or more political parties may decide to form a merger. But INEC has standard rules to implement.
“You may notice all fusion or merger were done and concluded by 28th of February and then 1st March where every political party that was thinking of merger must have concluded their preparations for congresses nationwide. So there’s no more room for merger. But because the language of our discourse is common after 1st of March this year, no room for merger of any political party,” he said.
