A former National Vice Chairman, North-West of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman, has described as a “mirage”, the presidential ambition of Rabiu Kwankwaso, ex-Kano governor and 2023 presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).

Lukman, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday, however, said the ruling party can fast-track Kwankwaso’s presidential ambition by opening the party’s door for him to come back and rebuild burnt bridges across the country.

He said the corruption allegations facing APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje in Kano has political undertones, arguing that only a political solution would solve it. He said the troubles facing Ganduje in Kano has to do with his squabble with Kwankwaso.

He said the protracted conflict between Ganduje and Kwankwaso “was an avoidable crisis which emerged because the party didn’t handle it well” which made Kwankwaso dumped the ruling party.

“We must push Dr Abdullahi Ganduje to renegotiate relationships back in his state because it’s political. If you don’t approach it politically, you will never take it away. You can replace Dr Abdullahi Ganduje and if the capacity to get leaders to do the right thing in their base is not addressed, we will continue to get into this,” he said.

Ganduje and some of his family members are being probed by the state anti-graft agency under the control of Governor Abba Yusuf of the NNPP over corruption charges and the matter is in court. Some APC ward chieftains have suspended Ganduje but the matter has been roped in conflicting court judgements, with the APC disowning those chieftains and affirming the ex-Kano governor as the party’s national chairman.

Lukman, a former Director General of Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) of the ruling APC, said, “We must accept that things are not alright within the APC, forget about the Ganduje matter in Kano. The reality is that we have problems that require us to come back to rebuild our party.

“The ambition of Senator Kwankwaso is to become the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Where he is today, I can confidently say that it will be like a mirage for him to be the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“It will take years of building and negotiation across the country which may outlive his lifespan and if we are to fast-track it and open our party for him to come back in such a way that we renegotiate his relationship with Dr Ganduje and across the state, we also renegotiate relationships between leaders and bring in new forces, Nigerians are even likely to have more confidence in the party.

Former Director General of the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign in the 2023 election, Mr Doyin Okupe, has hit back at the party insisting its presidential candidate, Mr Peter does not share the party’s ideology.

He noted that Obi is not a Labour person and that the party was just used as a special purpose vehicle for the election.

Obi defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a few weeks to the end of the window the electoral umpire allowed for political parties to conduct their primaries to LP in 2023 and was crowned the candidate of the party in Delta State soon afterwards.

He contested the election and came third according to the final results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who conducts elections in the country.

Okupe subsequently announced his resignation from the party, describing it as SPV, to the consternation of party leadership and supporters.

A war of words ensued with LP leadership describing his exit as good riddance, calling him a “political harlot.”


Okupe restated his stance on Tuesday in what would further irk LP while speaking on Arise Television, insisting that, “The LP for us — for Peter Obi and I — and those in the leadership of the movement…the party was a special purpose vehicle (SPV).

“I have never been a labour person, I have never operated on the left before but we needed a platform and this was the only platform readily available to us,” Okupe doubled down on Tuesday.

According to him, “We thought that if we won the election…there are no fast and hard rules about ideologies. You can always find a shade between the left and the right. You can always move to the centre.

“We were hoping and praying that if we won we would find a way to come to some consensus with the labour.


“Peter Obi is not a labour person. He is not a leftist person, he is a trader, he is a businessman just like me. I am a liberal democrat, I believe in liberal democracy, I believe in free enterprise.

“I am not a social worker. As far as I’m concerned, my membership of labour expired the moment we lost that election,” Okupe re-emphasised.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday, April 22, published the final list of candidates for the Edo state governorship election.

This update was provided in a statement signed by Sam Olumekun, the national commissioner and chairman of INEC’s information and voter education committee.

The Edo state governorship election is scheduled to be held on Saturday, September 21, 2024.

The incumbent governor, Godwin Obaseki, is ineligible to contest in the poll.

With the publication of the final list of candidates for the Edo gubernatorial election, the next activity is the electionering.

INEC’s statement partly reads: “Overall, 17 political parties are fielding candidates in the election. 16 are male while one (1) is female.

“The final list, which also gives the breakdown of the candidates by age, academic qualifications and disability, has been published at our office in Edo State and also uploaded to our website and social media platforms for public information.”