Home FEATURES 2019: Obasanjo, Coalition Won’t Support Kwankwaso For President – Agbakoba

2019: Obasanjo, Coalition Won’t Support Kwankwaso For President – Agbakoba

Co-Chairman of the Nigerian Intervention Movement (NIM), Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), has made it clear that the former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the Coalition of Nigerian Movement (CNM) will never support the former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and others who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) for presidency in the 2019 general elections.

“I can confirm that Kwankwaso was there and Oyinlola was there, but for us, our concern is that Nigerians need to see a new political plan and we told them in clear terms that if we are to work together, it would present a challenge if the Nigerian voting population see the same old people and then there would be no change. So, that’s where we are.”

Agbakoba spoke shortly after former President Obasanjo held a meeting with now Senator Kwankwaso and politicians from no fewer than 35 political parties under the aegis of the Coalition for New Nigeria, at Protea Hotel, located at 42/44 Isaac John Street, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos today, Sunday.

Agbakoba who confirmed that the politicians are in circumspect with Obasanjo’s agenda, however said: “it will be difficult in my view for us to be supporting the same old people who left the PDP and went to the APC to come and join us. It will be very difficult.”

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He said that the politicians under the coalition would continue to hold meetings with Obasanjo in exploring the right options to overthrow APC and PDP come 2019.

“What I can say is yes, that is true. We are exploring the option of working together and those conversations are still ongoing and we have a mutually-agreed agenda that we will have to make an impact in 2019.

“And that we will not be supporting the APC or the PDP. We have agreed on that but we have not agreed on who the candidate would be and other minute details.”

At the meeting were Agbakoba, Dr. Jalil Tafawa-Balewa, one of the children of Nigeria’s post-independence first Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa; a former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke; a former Governor Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and a former Special Adviser to Obasanjo, who is the spokesman for the CNM, Akin Osuntokun, among others.

Some of the political parties represented at the meeting included the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Labour Party (LP), Alliance for Democracy (AD), Democratic People’s Congress (DPC), Action Alliance (AC), Progressives People’s Alliance (PPA), Democratic Alternative (DA) and National Conscience Party (NCP). [myad]