A Northern group, Arewa Peoples’ Forum, APF, has alleged that Governor of Kebbi State is making plans to facilitate emergence as APC 2023 presidential candidate.
The group claimed that the governor was using his access to President Buhari and other stakeholders in the party to push Jonathan as the party’s presidential candidate.
In a statement signed in Kaduna by the leader, Ishaku Ahmed, the group urged north and other members of the party to stop the governor from carrying out his mission and save the party from an internal altercation.
The statement read: “It is high time the north and other members of the party interested in the continued existence of the APC as a united political entity rose to challenge Governor Atiku Bagudu over his plot to hand over the party’s ticket to former President Goodluck Jonathan.
“Abusing his access to President Muhammadu Buhari and influence within the party, Governor Bagudu has acted without care for the sensitivity of the north and other Nigerians with his obsession with the idea that Mr. Goodluck Jonathan should waltz into the party and claim the biggest prize.
“Even if Governor Bagudu has conveniently forgotten, northerners and other Nigerians recall vividly that the entire basis for the formation of the APC was to ensure the dislodge from the power of the same man he now wants to give the ticket to. For over two years, founding members of the party campaigned against Jonathan, accusing him of hastening the country’s collapse with his negligence, ineptitude, and poor leadership.
“How do Governor Bagudu and his co-conspirators expect the party to convince Nigerians otherwise in 2023? Will we not look unserious to them? How does he intend to market Mr. Goodluck Jonathan in the north after the many humiliations we suffered from the rhetoric delivered against us during his campaign in 2015?
“Also important is the fact that any ambition by former President Jonathan would run foul of the constitution, having already been sworn in twice. Why should the APC risk legal annulment and other complications on account of a man who, only a few years ago, it deemed a stumbling block to Nigeria’s progress?
“The APC is a product of the sweat and sacrifice of so many people who deserve better than this imposition agenda Governor Bagudu is championing. An emergence of GEJ is a slap on the face of many and will split the party and guarantee its defeat.”