|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Members of the Concern APC stakeholders
By Akanji Alowolodu, Bauchi
As agitations for who becomes the vice presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) rages on, the Presidential candidate, Sen Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been urged to be firm and courageous to pick a Northern Christian as his running mate.
The urge was made by a political pressure group known as ‘Concern APC Stakeholders from the North-East Region which berated former Abia State Governor, Sen Orji Uzor Kalu for promoting a Muslim-Muslim presidency for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) describing him as “enemy’ the progress of the party.
The group represented by 20 of its members led by Mohammed Garba Damina in an interactive session with Journalists in Bauchi on Wednesday stated that, “Our flag bearer should disregard in toto, the claim by Senator Orji Uzo Kalu that Tinubu’s wife is a Christian Pastor and the Vice President should be a Muslim so that Northern Christians should remain calm” .
The group declared that, “Senator Oluremi Tinubu is from the South, she cannot represent the North nor the Christian Northerners. Once Tinubu conclude for Muslim-Muslim ticket, the opposition will start singing songs of victory that should never happen during our time” .
“Our prayer therefore is that our flag bearer, Mr. President, the National Party Chairman, the APC Governors and other stakeholders take a bold step by presenting the Rt. Hon. Dr. Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of Nigeria’s 8th Assembly from Bauchi State, North East Nigeria who has all it takes to be the running mate of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for 2023 Presidential election and Nigeria and Nigerians will never regret their decision”.
It emphasized that, “With commitment, the Northern Christian minority can do even more than their Muslim counterparts. The minority should not be under rated” .
Concern APC Stakeholders from The North-East declared that, “It will be suicidal to drag Tinubu into picking a Muslim Northerner as his running mate in this dispensation. In fact, those who are clamoring for Muslin-Muslin ticket are enemies of President Buhari and Tinubu, because they want the party to die in their hands i.e. sending party members and supporters away to opposition parties”.
The group then congratulated the President Muhammadu Buhari, the winner of the just concluded Presidential primaries of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the party family all over Nigeria and those in diaspora for the victory achieved during the peaceful free and fair primaries which prove many who had before then envisaged doom, crisis and crumbling of APC wrong.
It also commended the leader of the party for his unbiased leadership, the National Chairman who did his best within the short period since he took over the mantle of leadership of the party during whose tenure the victory was achieved, the wise decision of the Northern Governors to zone the Presidency to the South and the peaceful conduct of all the aspirants and their supporters.
The group however opined that Management of success is turning out to be difficult as the sentiment of naming a running mate is fast tearing the party apart.
Going down memory lane, It stated that when in 2014 Muhammadu Buhari emerged as the Presidential flag bearer of the APC, the issue of running mate from the South was amicably resolved when Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu named Prof Yemi Osinbajo in place of his humble self to balance the equation rather than having in place Muslin-Muslim ticket which is today responsible for peaceful coordination of the country.
