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“Obi’s team refutes any intentions of merging with Atiku and Kwankwaso, as speculated.”

  • Post category:Politics

“The National Secretary of the Labour Party, Umar Farouk, and Tai Obasi, media aide to LP’s candidate, Peter Obi, have both denied any awareness of an ongoing merger arrangement involving the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, and his counterpart in the New Nigeria People’s Party, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso. These clarifications were given separately in interviews with The PUNCH.

Meanwhile, the ruling All Progressives Congress asserted that President Bola Tinubu would face no difficulty in defeating the trio once again if their motive was to impede his victory in the 2027 presidential election.

These developments come in response to media reports suggesting that Atiku, Kwankwaso, and Obi were engaging in initial discussions about a potential merger, aiming to establish a strong platform capable of challenging the ruling party.

In his reaction, Farouk told our correspondent that the report had no basis in reality.”

The LP national secretary disclosed that much as the party respects the privacy of its presidential candidate to associate with anybody, he vowed that Labour Party will never merge with any other political platform.

He, however, did rule out the possibility of an alliance.

“That is not true. I think it is the imagination of the writer. It has not come to us as a party. Whatever is going on, if at all it is true, Peter Obi is probably doing that as a candidate, which he has a right to do and associate with whoever he wants to associate with.

“But as a party, we are not thinking of a merger with any political party. And Labour Party will never merge with any party.

“Regarding any potential decision, we’re waiting for the outcome of our election petition trial before making any moves. However, I want to emphasize that the Labour Party will not be involved in merging with other political parties; an alliance might be considered instead,” he clarified.

This sentiment was echoed by the media aide of the Labour Party’s prominent figure, Peter Obi, when asked about the media report. The aide emphasized that while Obi respects the political ideologies of Atiku and Kwankwaso, they are currently focused on awaiting the final judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to secure their mandate.

The aide stated, “I’m not aware of such a thing. Like everyone else, we’re awaiting the tribunal’s judgment. Why consider a merger before receiving the judgment? Would they merge as opposition forces? I doubt it. My principal is open and willing to engage on issues. While we respect Atiku and Kwankwaso, there’s no indication of a merger as of now, given the current margin.”

Efforts to obtain a response from the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, were unsuccessful. However, Bala Ibrahim, the Director of Publicity for the ruling party, brushed off any perceived threat from such a merger, stating, “If you can individually defeat them, collectively beating them shouldn’t pose any difficulty.”

“Whether they (Atiku, Obi, Kwankwaso) merged or not, they will still remain below the ladder of the ruling party.” Bala boasted.

As of the time of filing this report, the National Publicity Secretary of the NNPP, Major Agbo, could however not be reached for clarification.

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