Why Peter Obi And Kwankwaso Coalition Collapsed – Okupe, Umeh
Former All Progressives Grand Alliance chairman, Victor Umeh, has said the discussion for a merger between the New Nigeria Peoples Party and the Labour Party ended June 15.
He said this was because e Presidential candidates of both parties failed to agree on who will be the candidate of the merger.
Umeh said the Labour Party was no longer interested in “every other discussion” with the NNPP.
He said: “We are surprised at the recent media blaze by the members of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) to continuously suggest that they were locked in a negotiation with the Labour Party to have a partnership or arrangement where the two parties will work together in 2023.
“We are surprised to continuously see this, we had this discussion precisely on June 15, more than three weeks ago. What necessitated the meeting was that the NNPP and LP working together will give a better opportunity for the presidential election to be won. And the two parties set up two teams.
“Myself, Julius Aboreh, the Labour Party chairman who led our team; Doyin Okupe went to that discussion on behalf of the Labour Party; while the NNPP put forward Buba Galadima, Abdullahi Baffa, former executive secretary of TETFUND, and Ladipo Johnson.
“It was a three-man team; we met for long hours, adjourned and we came back. When it became obvious that it had become a dialogue between a deaf and dumb person, we called off the negotiation.[b]
Also, the Labour Party temporary Vice Presidential Candidate, Dr Doyin Okupe, said the LP/NNPP alliance talks had collapsed.
Speaking on Channels Television Politics Today programme, yesterday, Okupe said the merger failed because Kwankwaso of the NNPP insisted on being the presidential flagbearer, even when a Northern Muslim of same North-West geo-political zone, President Muhammadu Buhari, is about to complete eight years in office.
