2023: Kwankwanso snubs Arewa presidential dialogue, alleges secret endorsement of candidate

New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) standard bearer, Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso, has snubbed the Arewa Joint Committee interactive session organized for presidential candidates ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Combined groups of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Arewa House, Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, Northern Elders Forum and Arewa Research and Development Project, had put up an interactive session to assess all the candidates jostling for president in 2023.

Kwankwanso was expected to appear before the gathering on Monday 17th October, 2022 alongside his counterparts in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi.

However, in a letter addressed to the organizers of the event prior to his scheduled date, NNPP spokesperson, Abdulmumin Jibrin, noted that a campaign had already been fixed for the day.

Read more:Kwankwaso’s running mate, Idahosa, upbeat on NNPP’s chances in 2023 elections

Jibrin claimed that Kwankwanso’s technical team was in the middle of finalizing his policy document.

The former Kano State Governor further hinted at the secret endorsement of presidential candidate by the organizers of the event and cautioned them against such.

The letter read in part: “We have credible information in our possession that shows that some people have been compromised and these people have concluded plans to turn the event into an endorsement platform for a particular candidate.

“We believe that it’s very wrong for any group to clandestinely plan to endorse any candidate in the name of the North, especially when we have more than one candidate from our region.

“We note that the earlier date was even postponed and a new date was fixed to coincide with the date of the rally of one of the presidential candidates in Kaduna. This further gives credence to the information in our possesssion that the event is being financed by that candidate.”

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