The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) vice presidential candidate, Bishop Isaac Idahosa, says the track record of his principal, Rabiu Kwankwaso supersedes that of the Labour Party (LP) standard bearer, Peter Obi.
Idahosa made the comments during a live appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, in the light of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s endorsement of Obi in a six-page open letter.
Kwankwaso had served as Minister of Defence between 2003 and 2007, during the second term of the Obasanjo administration.
The cleric said the NNPP has received a number of endorsements but is keeping them close to the vest.
“If I mention to you a few that have endorsed us, you will marvel, and over time, you will begin to see the manifestations of all I’ve been saying. We’ve been doing a whole lot. Peter Obi is endorsed based on what the elder statesman, former president (Obasanjo) said of his track records, which we have even much more.
“We talk about the track record, vision, character, and the physique. These are the things that indeed must be found and seen in any leader as a very good attribute or quality.
“My own principal, Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has got all this in abundance. Talk about track record, what he’s been able to achieve and he’s still on there as a very proper, visible legacy in Kano, when he was a two-term governor,” Idahosa said.
Defending the decision to keep mum on the party’s endorsements, the NNPP vice presidential candidate said the party is “in it to win it.”
He argued that those who “undermine us should go on ahead and undermine us,” saying with the February 25 election on the horizon, “you will call me back to say congratulations.”
According to Idahosa, despite Obasanjo refusing to endorse a former member of his cabinet, there is no cause for disappointment.
“He is but one among 200 million people endorsing a candidate. So many more will endorse who they want to endorse. He has the entitlement to endorse who he wants to endorse. Why would I be disappointed? The former president has got just one vote to cast.
“It depends on what impact it has on Peter Obi and the Labour Party. But for us, the NNPP, we are never disappointed. It’s just another way to saw, ‘Move on ahead. Get courageous and get at the goal,’” he said.
