Ex-Zamfara Governor Dismisses Southern Governors Resolution, Says He’ll Contest in 2023
- The 2023 conversation took a different turn recently following a Southern Governors Forum resolution
- The forum had insisted that southern Nigeria should produce the successor of President Muhammadu Buhari
- Former governor of Zamfara state, Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima, says he will contest despite the position of the forum
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FCT, Abuja - Former governor of Zamfara state and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima, has said he would contest for the 2023 presidential election despite the recent stance of the Southern Governors Forum.
The forum had on Monday, July 5 insisted that the presidency should be zoned to southern Nigeria in 2023.
Source: Getty Images
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Yerima says his ambition has constitutional backing
Speaking in Abuja with some journalists, Senator Sani said he would not shelve his ambition since there was no provision for power shift in the Nigeran constitution and the APC constitution.
Nigerian Tribune newspaper quoted him as saying:
“Every Nigerian, according to the Nigerian constitution, unless it is amended, has the right to aspire to any political office once he is qualified.You cannot say this is my turn because it is about the election.
“We still have tribal, ethnic, and religious differences which is very wrong. And until and such a time we believe that we are Nigerians, then the issue of Hausa, Fulani, Igbo, Ijaws, people will continue.”
In a related development, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has urged the Southern Governors Forum to zone the 2023 presidency to the southeast in the interest of fair play and justice.
A spokesman for the Ohanaeze, Alex Ogbonnia, told the Punch newspaper that the group backed the southern governors’ position that the region should produce the president in 2023.
He, however, stated that other regions must be magnanimous in conceding the presidency to the southeast.
A northerner pushing for southern candidate
On his part, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau has urged the APC to field a southerner as its presidential candidate in 2023.
Shekarau, a former governor of Kano state and serving senator representing Kano Central Senatorial District made the statement in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service on Wednesday, June 16.
According to him, the idea for President Muhammadu Buhari to hand over to a southerner is to ensure justice and fairness.
Meanwhile, a group, Progressive Consolidation Group has urged Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, to consider joining the 2023 presidential race.
While calling on Osinbajo to declare interest in the 2023 race, the APC support group, appealed to the former governor of Lagos state, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to withdraw his presidential bid.
Addressing reporters in Abuja including a Legit.ng reporter on behalf of members drawn from the six geo-political zones, PCG’s national coordinator, Hon. Ahmed Mohammed and national secretary, Dr. Eberechukwu Eli Dibia pledged the group’s preparedness for the 2023 polls.
Source: Legit.ng
