How The Obi-Kwankwaso’s Ticket Deal Was Struck—Akin Osuntokun

How

 

OpenLife News reports that Akin Osuntokun, a Nigerian political scientist, strategist, researcher, administrator, journalist and writer who was appointed as a political adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007 has revealed how the Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso’s  2027 presidential ticket was struck.

 

Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso are the presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC in the 2027 presidential election.

Speaking during an interview on ARISE News on Sunday, Osuntokun pointed out that it was former President Olusegun Obasanjo that enabled the agreement for the two heavy weight politicians to work together.

“Former President Obasanjo played a central role in bringing the two opposition figures together,” Osuntokun claimed.

“He was the one who brokered the ticket between Obi and Kwankwaso. Both of them are quite close to him,” he said.

He added: “So that, of course, is a ticket that makes sense, that has the potential to make a lot of impact in the 2027 election. So, that is the case. I can tell you that for free, that it was the one who brought the ticket together.”

According to Osuntokun, an Obi-Kwankwaso alliance offers a more compelling and realistic platform for Nigeria’s 2027 presidential election than LP’s 2023 ticket.

The former political adviser described a potential presidential ticket between Labour Party’s Peter Obi and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) leader Rabiu Kwankwaso as a stronger and more realistic alliance than the Labour Party’s 2023 ticket.

He noted that the partnership between Obi and Kwankwaso would improve the opposition’s chances in the 2027 presidential election because of Kwankwaso’s political influence, particularly in Kano State.

He explained that, “Obi and Kwankwaso’s ticket is a much more realistic, more compelling ticket than the 2023 one. That’s why I said this is a more realistic, more compelling ticket than the 2023 one.”

Explaining why he believes the alliance would be stronger, Osuntokun said Kwankwaso’s political base would significantly boost the ticket.

“If you have somebody like Kwankwaso, somebody who, we’ll wait to see how it turns out, you know, who makes, you know, a kind of state politic. That is a big, you know, big bonus, you know, for the Obi-Kwankwaso ticket,” he said.

 

He, however, maintained that the Obi-led ticket enjoys stronger public appeal than former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s political camp.

“But the Obi ticket, for me, is stronger in the popular imagination than the Atiku ticket,” Osuntokun said.