 Obi-Kwan Quasso working on a mega-alliance and 22 APC senators planning to defect to the People's Democratic Party says Fanny Coyote. Well this is Plus Politics and I am Mary Annacombe. The Labour Party presidential candidate Mr. Peter Obi and his new Nigeria People's Party NNPC counterpart Senator Rabiu Musa-Kwan Quasso are still in talks to field a joint ticket for the 2023 presidential poll disclosing that the plan is to form a mega-alliance Mr. Julius Aburi, the Labour Party National Chairman, said both parties are consulting widely to make the alliance a huge success and of course to beat the July 17 deadline by the Independent National Electoral Commission for the Substitution of Candidates. Tonight we are being joined by the National Chairman of the NCP who is also the spokesperson of NC Front Dr. Unisa Sallisu-Tanko. Thank you so much Dr. for joining us. Thank you very much for having me. Good evening again. Great. Dr. Unisa, we have been inquiring you know since we heard about somewhat of a merger at first it was a rumored merger and now we're hearing of an alliance of source between the NNPP, the NNPP I beg your pardon and of course the Labour Party. Now we've seen you know the talks growing even though we are not privy to much of the conversations but why does the Labour Party and the NNPP think that this is a great idea? Well, thank you very much for having me. The storyline is this. Somewhere last year a group of intellectuals led by Professor Patu Otomi decided that look these 2023 elections we cannot let it open for all kind of people to come and take over leadership of this country. So we decided to reach out to all the political parties. We reached out to 16 political parties, cascaded into about 5 political parties. Then eventually we come down on Labour Party. And in fact we have barely informed the whole country of us adopting Labour Party as our core political power. Then two days or three days after the comrades speech will be joined us in Labour Party. And that is not to say that this question have not been going on with the Labour Party right before we announced Labour Party as our adopted party. But then what we then have is that we all joined together. Interestingly the TUC and the NNPP also agreed to resurrect the Labour Party. Now we have also been having discussion with engineer Rabiu Musa Kokusun as a group for also work together and give us Nigerians a new political party that will lessen Nigeria from the quagmire that we find ourselves. Now here is very important and make a clarification. There is a difference between major and an alliance. A major means that two political parties or three will lose their identity completely and come with a new political party. In the case that happened within all Nigerian people's party ACM and others that produce APC. But in this case, technically we cannot do matter what we can align. An alliance simply means working together or you still maintain your identity. That is an alliance. Collaboration means that you can work together in different sides and you still maintain your identity. But the most important thing that we've all identified is that we are going to work together. That is the premises in which the discussion is going. But finally a decision has not been made as regards to whether who will become president or who will become the vice. That is left between the two leaders. But in the event that it doesn't happen everybody can build his own structure and go it alone and see how far we can go. But the one in here is this. Nigerians have accepted this particular two leaders. So any well-grounded political party will not join with the request of the Nigerian people because many people believe that if these two come together by 12 noon on the day of election, election will have been over. But then Nigerians can have a choice because you can only take a house or a river but you cannot force him to drink water. So that is where we are at the moment. And I'm glad both Peter Obie and Kwon Kwosu himself have alluded to the fact that talks are going on. So we still have time within now and August to agree on a position that needs to be announced to the Nigerians. But we are working to get Nigeria out of the woods. Thank you very much. Interesting. I like that you've given us a very good background and you've pinpointed some of the issues that I want to probe you further on. But then you also seem to not tell us exactly what, you know, might come out of this. You're just saying if nothing happens then they go different ways. But we also see that one person seems to have a very big following of sorts. I'd like to refer to something that the governor of Adol State, Governor of Basaki, made reference to. He did talk about the fact that Adol State, rather he said many Nigerians are looking for alternatives. And these are alternatives to the PDP and the APC. And he made this point saying that this might be a problem going into 2023. And then he said that there's a reason why the APC also lost in the, sorry, the PDP lost in Akiti during the elections. He talked about, you know, that the supporters of the Labour Party candidate are many. So in terms of the talks that are being had, I'm asking, who's going to collapse into who? Again, if you're having a coalition or an alliance, there has to be a support of sorts that would make one person win. Since you're saying that you might not necessarily collapse parties into one another, but then you're going to support from where you are. How walkable is this? Because again, we see that the Southeasterners are saying we do not want to play second fiddle. Hence why we have a Pitao B holding the flag of the Labour Party. But then we also have a Kwong Kwa So on the other hand, who left the PDP to the NNPPP saying that he wants to be the president. So these are two strong persons. How much talk can let one person step down for the other and say, well, you go first and then I come later? Technically, there's a way in which there's a room for a substitution. Where if they agree on power sharing, shifting ground and moving to one political party will not be a problem. As long as there's an agreement, the most important thing, let them agree, then you look at the legal framework and find out which way is the best way for you to achieve your collaboration. It's simple. So we need to wait for anybody to agree first. The most important thing here is that there is a room for that to be actualized. If they agree. And then the truth is it, when you said that probably how people are working, what would they do and how would they do, all of these are doable ones to agree on a position. And then you can easily find a way, when you look at the technicalities and the lawyers go through it so that you will not run foul of the provision of the electoral act and the constitution of the parties. This is very important. Let's talk about the viability of all the both political parties. We know that the Labour Party does have some structure. We know that the NNPB does have some structure. But then we're also looking at the National Assembly here because it's not just rooting for the presidential ticket or the presidential seat. What happens to other seats that the PDP or the APC holds? Because these are questions, legitimate questions that have been raised. If you are pushing for the presidency, then you should be pushing for other seats. And we've seen the just concluded elections in a kitty state where the ruling party emerged winner even though there are certain controversies surrounding that election. What plans does this alliance of sorts, if it ever comes to be, have in terms of winning other seats other than the presidency? Okay, as we stand today, every political party is mobilizing to ensure that they fill all the positions to run for elections. And the uplinking of the candidates for presidency, senate and federal government, the representative was just concluded. Now, the next step is for state assembly and governance which will start on the 4th of July and terminate on the 17th of July. What is happening now is that every political party is working very hard to get credible candidates. Now, if this alliance works out, all of them work together as a team. So you can be sure that almost all the political party will fill all the positions. And so there's no problem with that. The most important thing is for us to agree to work together. And in the case that it doesn't happen, we all have a candidate in all of the positions open for contest. It's called for contest. So that is the way it will happen. I need to always work out all this, I'm assuming. Okay, let's talk about the visit of Govna Pitalbi to River State. We saw him in talks with the River State Govna. We also saw him in talks with the Bolchi State Govna, Bala Mohamed, who is also a PDP Govna. And these are members of the major opposition in the country. This has gotten a lot of people talking as to if the Labour Party and its presidential candidate is trying to stare us in the direction of a new Nigeria, what's he doing with a Govna wiki or a Govna Bala Mohamed? And what is the idea behind those talks? Well, you see, in politics, there's no enemy but permanent interest. You can always even discuss with your enemy in politics because you may end up being friends in the future. So what is happening here is that you are reaching out to your colleagues, telling your ideas to them. And if they buy it, they may come on supporting you. That is how it is done in everywhere in the world. It's not a war. It's about convincing each other on superior arguments. And don't forget, these people have worked together before as a point in time. So reaching out to each other is very important. So at the end of it, when you form a government, you will still need everybody to make your government work. So discussing and reaching out is part of the principles and functions that are enshrined in politics. So it's good for us to reach out to everybody so that we can be on the same page. In the spirit of reaching out, let's talk about the voter's registration, the continuous voter registration. Now, many have pushed and called for INEC to extend the voter education, seeing the eagerness of certain Nigerians to want to be part of the political process come 2023. Also, your party member, Mr. Bure, had also appealed to INEC to see if they could move and extend the date. Other than talking about voter education, I ask every political party representative this question, what are you doing to not just ask people to get their PBCs, but what are you doing in terms of voter education as to what they should expect during the elections, who they should vote for, why they should vote for that person, and making sure that their votes count. Because I have spoken to INEC about their voter education responsibility, but they also have said political parties have the onus of making that also happen, drumming it into the ears of the voters. But then there's a caveat. They have said, and many pundits have also said that the reason why political parties do not engage in these voter education is because of the corruption that is within the process in itself come election day. But I'd like for you to tell me if your party would be staring away from this norm. In terms of mobilization and calling Nigeria to come out and register, we have been doing that in a continuous basis in collaboration with what I need to have food in place so that we can encourage people to come out and register. And they are less funding. I saw the world happening in Abuja and in Lagos. It's very encouraging. For us in the Labour Party, what we are trying to do is to make sure that we open up all the offices that we have in all the world so that this issue of non-having structure will be a thing of the past. But I can assure you the structures are there. And Abuja has alluded to the fact that the majority of Nigerians who are hungry have around 100 millions of them. And his structures. But for the physical office, we are trying to open up all offices in all the world so that people can go there and register as member of the Labour Party. This should be concluded within the next few weeks by the grace of God so people can join us from the world's level. Thank you. OK. I want to come back to the politics within the party and the two persons who are engaging in this talk. I spoke to Professor Patatobi a few weeks ago on the Labour Party and the alliances that might come in the future. And he did say that there would be a lot more alliances. At first, I remember that there was a publication that had said that the NNPP was going to go into some collaboration with the Labour Party, which was refuted by the NNPP, but now we're seeing that conversation come to light. Again, let's look at the notoriety of these men and how much spread they have. We know that the Kwankwa Soul has a Kwankwa Sia movement, which is mostly in Kano and some other, you know, other parts. We also see a Pital B with the spread in the southeast and maybe some love in the middle belt and the south south. We do not know much about the southwest. And if he were to have a Kwankwa Soul on board or these two were to work together, how do they capture other parts of the country, especially the southwest, and even some parts of the north that the Kwankwa Sia movement might not have a grip over? Well, as far as I'm concerned, there are political parties already waiting in the wings to join these movements. And I also know for the fact that everybody has alluded to the fact that the disabled are talking to each other. So they also recognize the importance of working together. And we also know that the Liberal Party has an inroad in the southwest because of the large number of the Nigerian youth who are supporting Pital Obis movement. And also in the southwest, I mean, the southeast and the south south, not central, not west, and not east, everywhere will have the Nigerian youth supporting this particular movement. So we don't only need to add strength to strength. When you say everywhere, is that not a bit presumptuous? When you say everywhere, youth everywhere, don't forget we also have a PDP with a Governor Okowa as a running mate which also covers some parts of the southeast and the south south. So when you say you have Nigerian youth everywhere, is that not a bit presumptuous on your part? No, not at all. I am making a confirmation not to what the adult state's governor said. He said, do you notice that there's a new trend in the horizon now that almost every household has somebody called the Obidians? I didn't say it. That was coming from a PDP governor from the south south to tell you that we are reaching out to everywhere in this country. The other day, it was a fuller Niger telling her mother that her new name now is Obidians. This happened in Sokoto in Gombe. Somebody just opened an office on behalf of the Labour Party and printed it by himself. In the North Central, a woman just opened an office by herself and printed the Labour Party. So you see, what we are having in our hands is a tsunami. So everybody who wants to win government should just come on board. Let us continue to get this country back to the people. So it's not an assumption. Let's look at other issues. Just as you said, there are young people all across, in your words, everywhere who seem to be joining the Obid train. But do you have concerns about the fact that these waves can be momentary? They might just ride onto a sudden point and then die off? I'm only asking, because many have even tried to compare this movement to the NSAS movement and they're saying that, what's the guarantee that these same young people who are on social media who seem to be canvassing for a sudden Peter Albi will show up on the election day to give you the votes that you require to get that seat? Interestingly, when you mentioned the NSAS movement, the anger that is still born in the hearts of the Nigerian youth is actually translated into the Obidian movement. But this time around, it is not in a violent form. But rather, they want to use their PVC to take back their country for somebody they believe in. So this movement is working stronger. Immediately when we finish addressing the structure, you will be able to see the large number of people that will be moving in. So it's not a new thing. Maybe the temple will slow down. No, no, no, no. I think the temple is going to work more stronger. In fact, to tell you, the Nigerians both locally and internationally donate money. They donate money just to support this particular movement. So that is to tell you the level of commitment shown and by the people. Well, Dr. Tankel Yunusah is, of course, of the... I'm so sorry. He is of the NC Front and is also speaking as a national chairman of the NCP. We appreciate your thoughts and we wish you the best of luck as you continue your talks. Thank you for staying with us. We will take a short break. When we return, we will discuss the planned affections of the PDP and APC primaries. Stay with us.