Makarfi: Voting LP or NNPP strengthens chances of PDP, APC 

Ahmed Makarfi, former governor of Kaduna, says voting Peter Obi’s Labour party (LP) or Rabiu Kwankwaso’s New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) will only strengthen the PDP and the APC.

He said Obi and Kwankwaso should come back to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in order to aid the party’s effort to defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 presidential election.

Speaking on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, on Tuesday, Makarfi said Nigeria youths should not make decision based anger and frustration.

“This contest is between APC and PDP, so let people get this clear. I know there are a lot of sentiments out of frustration, maybe, but the clear choice for Nigerians is you either vote for PDP or you vote for APC,” he said.

“If you vote for any other party, you’ll only increase the strength of either of the two parties depending on where the vote come from.

“For the youths, when you’re angry you may even take a decision that may worsen your situation. If you are angry and frustrated, talk to people that can listen to you and address your issue.

“But if you go to take an option which will make the status quo remain what is the use of your frustration and anger? That is why I’m calling for a reason.

“I call for other opposition parties to actually come together. In any case, especially Peter Obi, I know he respects our presidential candidate a lot, he respects a many of us.

“PDP will be home to him and his supporters and indeed Kwankwaso, we started PDP together, let us come back home to do the needful for the sake of the country.

Reacting to Ibrahim Shekarau’s defection to the PDP, Makarfi said the former governor of Kano left NNPP because he is selfless and cares about his followers.

He said with this recent development, Atiku is ahead of every other candidates when it comes to securing the votes of the people in Kano.

“Shekarau left the NNPP not because his personal interest was not catered for but because the interest of his followers based on the agreement he had with NNPP was not catered for,” he said.

“So, you can see that it is about selfless service, about caring for those who follow him. He is in PDP purely because of the breach of trust where he was before.

“Kano is a very mature political environment. You can’t box them into one particular direction. They make choices of the options that are available.

“At a time, the kano voters voted for Abiola, a Muslim from the south, but the narrative there now is completely different. Things change over time. In terms of all indices, Atiku Abubakar is far ahead of the other aspirants that we have.”

On Monday, Iyorchia Ayu, PDP national chairman, presented the membership card to Shekarau.