… Blames PDP for APC’s failure to uphold zoning arrangement
BY BENEDICT NWACHUKWU, ABUJA
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has joined the list of Presidential aspirants who have bought their forms.
Lawan, who was represented by a group of friends and senators on Monday blamed the the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party’s decision to leave its presidential ticket open for the 2023 general elections as reason the APC also reneged on her zoning arrangement.
The APC had earlier zoned the presidential ticket to the south after zoning the National Chairman’s position to the north.
The group of party chieftains, led by an individual simply identified as NNkire a native of Abia State, on Monday stormed the International Conference Centre, Abuja to purchase the forms for the Senate President to run for the country’s presidency.
Speaking after the purchase of the forms, Nkire who was accompanied by senators told the media that the APC made a U-Turn to the early decision on zoning to avoid defeat at the 2023 polls.
He said, “No politician wants to lose. Nobody goes into election with the mind to lose. It’s PDP that forced us into this. If we keep to the zoning and give our ticket to a Southerner and the PDP gives its ticket to a northerner and wins we will be in the wilderness.
“Let me tell you, you’re a journalist not a politician. Every politician is in politics to win. It is PDP that is driving us to do this. We have said so. But we don’t want PDP to take the government from us. If you give the position to a southerner and PDP gives to a northerner, APC will go into the wilderness and we are not ready to go into the wilderness.
“We are here you can see beside and behind me Senators and senior members, businessmen and politicians who are members of the All Progressives Congress and some other Nigerians who want a new president.
“Alhaji Ahmed Lawan current president of the Senate of Nigeria is the new President Nigerians want for national stability. The president that we are bringing for the Nigerian people is a Nigerian president, not an Igbo president, not a Fulani president, not a Yoruba president. But a Nigerian president who we have watched and see that there would be no other candidate that will be so level-headed and someone who has the feeling of the poor Nigerians.
“We are not here on our own, we have his backing. Even though friends and brothers contributed to purchase this form for him, he has given us the go ahead,” Nkire said.
