Northern Group Asks Kwankwaso To Withdraw For Atiku

The Northern Liberal Democratic Movement (NLDM) has called on the presidential candidate of the opposition New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, to step down from the presidential race for the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.
The northern group said the mood and opinion of stakeholders in the region and the country is in favour of Atiku whom it stated was in a better position to win the contest irrespective of the former governor Kano’s decision.
This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja by national secretary of the movement, Balarabe Ali Bello, on Thursday.
In the statement, Bello stated that apart from the mood of the people of the region, there is a current reality prompting scores of many chieftains and members of the NNPP dumping the party for the PDP across the region in anticipation of a likely Atiku victory in February.
The NNPP had in the last few weeks lost its chieftains to the PDP, with the recent being the deputy governorship candidates of the party in Niger and Yobe States, as well as the state chairman of the party in Kaduna and the zonal secretary of the party in the North East zone who defected with scores of their supporters.
No fewer than 700,000 members of the party are also said to have defected to PDP in Bauchi State, North East zone of the country, prompting many stakeholders in the region to urge Kwankwaso to throw in the towel in favour of the former vice president who many see as well placed to win the February election.