The National Chairman of the Zenith Labour Party, Mr. Dan Iwuanyanwu, has explained the decision of the party and its presidential candidate, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, to withdraw from the February 16 , 2019 presidential election.
Iwuanyanwu said the party took the decision because it had come to realise that the election would be a straight contest between the All Progressives Congress’ candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari, and the Peoples Democratic Party standard bearer, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar .
The ZLP national chairman, who spoke in Abuja at the weekend, said, ”The presidential election next year is a straight contest. We arrived at a point that it is a straight contest between the incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari, and Atiku Abubakar.
Not that the other candidates are not good. Mimiko, for example, is in the best three to four candidates. We have Obi Ezekwesili, Donald Duke.
We have few good ones.
We said okay, don’t let us split our votes, let us have an arrangement. We started consultations; our consultations came to the same point. We decided that our presidential candidate goes to the Senate.
After all, we need strong characters in the Senate.
“So, we arrived at that decision and he ( Mimiko) agreed.
In 2019, let anybody like it or not, it is either Buhari or Abubakar that will be the president of Nigeria. So, in Zenith Labour Party, we looked at this and we have just less than two months and have candidates in 22 states.
We said let us not run faster than our legs, we will key into one of the two
candidates.
“We know our catchment areas. If Mimiko contested in our catchment areas, he will beat Abubakar and Buhari.
But that will not make him president. So, there is no need to waste those votes.”
On which of the two candidates, Atiku Abubakar and Muhammadu Buhari, the Zenith Labour will adopt, Iwuanyanwu said, “We are having open mind now.
There are so many factors that will be considered.
One, who will unite Nigeria the more. Two, who will develop Nigeria better? A lot of things we are going to put on the table.
As of today, Zenith Labour Party has an open mind.”
