Ladipo Johnson named Kwankwaso’s running mate

A Lagos-based lawyer, Ladipo Johnson, has been named as the running mate to the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso.

An official of the party, who didn’t want to be named, confirmed the development on Saturday.

According to the party official, Johnson is ‘standing in’ as the party’s vice-presidential candidate and his name has been submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission in order to meet up with the June 17 deadline for submission of candidates’ names for the 2023 elections.

The official said, “Barrister Ladipo Johnson is standing in as our vice-presidential candidate and his name has been submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission.”

The development comes hours after Doyin Okupe, who was named as the ‘placeholder’ vice-presidential candidate for the Labour Party, said talks were ongoing between his party and the NNPP on forming a coalition for the 2023 elections.

He said, “Our idea and reasoning is to bring together in this country, for the first time, the largest political coalition possible because we are facing two political giants — APC and PDP. We are serious about upstaging them and we will.”

In a related development, the NNPP had confirmed that talks were ongoing on the coalition with the Labour Party.

The party said, “We wish to inform Nigerians that our discussions with Peter Obi and the Labour Party are still ongoing. Special committee was set to discuss arrangements. We hope for good results that will give Nigeria a chance to be alive, once again.”