Presidential aspirant, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, has explained why the merger between NNPP and Labour Party’s Peter Obi did not work out.
He said that both parties couldn’t reach a compromise because Labour Party was at the peak of the media hype at the time.
Kwankwaso stated this at the Chatham House in London on Wednesday, as he said that LP is more of a regional party.
He said: “On Labour Party, I was initially interested in working with them. But at that time, they were at peak of the media hype and we couldn’t reach a compromise. Our party (NNPP) is a national party, and we’re commanding the support of the masses.
“If you have a party which is based on ethnicity and religion, that is the difference between the Labour party and our party, which is a national party, New Nigeria Peoples Party.”
Meanwhile, Kwankwaso recently said that if he is elected, he will ensure the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) result remains valid for four years.
NAN reports that he made the pledge on Thursday, January 12 during the presentation of NNPP flags to six North-East states’ gubernatorial and 18 senatorial candidates at the presidential rally in Bauchi.
The former Kano state governor expressed concerns that students with high UTME scores, for one reason or the other, end up not being offered admission.
He said; “These students and their parents are made to bear the financial burden to sit the examinations the next year, but when voted into power, we will make JAMB results valid for four years. We will introduce a four-year moratorium for JAMB so that our children can use the same JAMB results to gain admission into our tertiary education institutions within this period.”
The NNPP presidential flagbearer further promised to make application forms for admission and employment free of charge.
Kwankwaso added; “We will upgrade and expand all our universities, polytechnics and colleges of education and raise their standard to global competitiveness. My government will construct 500,000 classrooms across the federation to accommodate the over 20 million out-of-school children. Wwe will make all examinations such as WASC, NECO, NABTEB, NBIAS, JAMB, among others, free.”
