A leader of Southwest zone of the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP), Alhaji Adebisi Olopoeyan, has advised former governor of Kano State and presidential candidate of the party in the last general polls, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, to modify his ambition to rule Nigeria and focus on issues that would build the country and reposition NNPP ahead of 2027.
In a chat with The Guardian Newspapers, Olopoeyan, said greed, personal ambition and desperation are not what the country and or any political party need now but patriotism and selflessness aimed at seeing the country out of the present challenges.
Olopoeyan added that what stands before Nigeria of today goes beyond the individual’s desperation for power. “I think this is the time for any serious member of the opposition party, to think collectively about how to build their party, strategies on what could be done to rescue Nigeria and eschew inordinate ambition for a collective reasoning. Kwankwaso’s tree alone cannot unseat the ruling party and or President Bola Tinubu in 2027.”
Olopoeyan said that ahead of 2027, Nigeria does not need ethnic politicians, myopic politicians “My message to our presidential candidate for the last general polls, is that NNPP needs to sit and chat about a new course in order to know what to do to save Nigeria,” he said.
The Southwest leader’s position is coming on the heels of Kwankwaso’s pontificating, while inaugurating a renovated NNPP party office in Katsina State last Saturday, that he would be the next Nigerian president come 2027. He made an authoritative statement, predicting a victory for himself in the coming 2027 presidential election, adding that his party is on course to take over the presidency and many states in the country.
Olopoeyan said the former governor of Kano is living his dream because he is already using his Kwankwasiyya group to destabilize the party nationally and in almost all the states.
He said while there is no crime in aspiring to rule Nigeria “but then no one can aspire to govern over 200 million people but not wanting to accommodate others.
“Moreover, the fact that he was the only Presidential candidate in NNPP in 2023 doesn’t guarantee that the party will not have other aspirants in 2027; the ticket needs to be made open and competitive in 2027, unlike in 2023 when he was endorsed unanimously by party leaders and members.”
Olopoeyan also advised the former governor of Kano to emulate the leadership style of President Bola Tinubu, erstwhile Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan, Olusegun Obasanjo and other national political leaders.
