Olushola Omogbehin
Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi and Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP, have formally joined the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC.
The two political figures made this call on Sunday in Abuja during their official reception into the party by the National Leader of the NDC and former Governor of Bayelsa State, Henry Seriake Dickson and its National Chairman, Moses Cleopas, at the party’s headquarters in Abuja.
While addressing party leaders and supporters, Obi said: “First of all, sincerely, I join in thanking the leader of our party. And I assure him that we are coming here to be part of the peaceful family that will work hard to build a united, secure, prosperous Nigeria that will work for everybody.
“Kwankwaso is also a leader who has been at the forefront of education, providing primary care and putting people out of poverty because we want to build a country where a child of nobody can be somebody without knowing anybody. That is what we want to do.
“We are using this occasion to plead with the government of today. You know that I contested the election in 2023 in a different party. Rabiu Kwankwaso contested the same election in a different party.”
Accusing APC led government, he said: “The government of today has ensured that they put up crisis upon crisis, which led to several lawsuits in our party that made us abandon those parties and move to another party, thinking that our situation would abate.
“But what we saw was a carry-over of the same problem from where we came from – similar unresolved crisis, litigations and everything. Today, we have left that place to NDC, where the leader has already assured us that they have no litigation. So, we are pleading with them for the sake of democracy. Please, don’t come here. We want to have peace. We don’t want cases.
“We want to build a party. Those of us who are lawyers want you to be good practitioners. We don’t want to spend our time in litigation and fighting ourselves. Let’s spend our time dealing with issues affecting the ordinary Nigerian. This ship is about to sail. Please do everything possible to join,” he pleaded.
In his remarks, Kwankwaso said their engagement with the NDC leadership showed strong alignment in ideology and governance priorities, particularly in education, youth empowerment, and national unity.
Speaking, the National Leader of the NDC, Senator Seriake Dickson, welcomed them, saying the entry of Obi and Kwankwaso reinforced the party’s growing national appeal.
“On behalf of the National Working Committee, teeming members of our party and well-meaning Nigerians, I welcome you both to the party.
‘’We were told you are not coming here with the crowd today. But both of you are personifications of the crowd. As you can see, the crowd has followed you here. This party does not know what is called ‘status quo ante bellum.’
“Let me assure you that the two of you are part of the biggest brands in our political history. We trust and believe you. The Nigerian people know what you are bringing on board. There will be enough time for the campaign when we will also unveil the political process of the party,” he stated.
