A group, ABS Contact and Advocacy Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, met with the working committee of the Benue State chapter, urging party faithful to ensure former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, emerges as North Central’s sole candidate in PDP’s forthcoming presidential primary.
Iyorwuese Hagher, a former senator, who led the group, lamented that multiplicity of North Central aspirants during the 2019 presidential primary election of the PDP, caused the region to be edged out.
Cautioning against a repeat, Hagher said: “A presidential candidate from the zone can easily win the trust of the country, unite it, build cohesion, and work on security and economic problems.
“North Central leaders have started sending emissaries to other geopolitical zones. The delegations are meeting with other leaders to persuade them to help make the idea of a Nigerian President from North Central possible, the way they did in 1999 when the entire country was persuaded to elect a Nigerian President from the South West.”
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He said neglect of the zone in Nigeria’s power equation has affected the confidence and sense of belonging of its patriotic, progressive and loyal people.
According to Hagher, Saraki possesses all the qualities of a formidable leader that can lead Nigeria to economic and security gains.
In his remarks, Benue State PDP Chairman, Sir John Ngbede, said the region deserves to vie for the position of President. He said members of the zone would consult with relevant stakeholders and come up with a position to back Saraki.
HAGHER was also in Jos, Plateau State, where he met with executives and stakeholders at the PDP secretariat.
He told attendees: “President Buhari and All Progressives Congress (APC) represent the worst form of government since independence, and we have decided to unite, as a zone, to put forward one of our sons (Saraki) to rescue Nigeria from servitude.”
A former Deputy Governor of Nasarawa State, Suleiman Adokwe, added: “Saraki is known for always putting the people first and championing nation building in any capacity he finds himself.”
The group was earlier welcomed and received by former Governors of Plateau State, Dr. Jonah David Jang, Fidelis Tapgun, and House of Representatives member, Beni Lar.
Plateau State PDP Chairman, Chris Hassan, described the group’s mission as a step in the right direction, assuring of the party’s support.
MEANWHILE, in Lokoja, Kogi State, a delegation of the group, North Central for President 2023, met with PDP members at the state secretariat.
Leader of the delegation and a former Kwara State Governor, Mohammed Shaaba Lafiagi, told them: “We are advocating that our party allow North Central to produce the next presidential candidate of the party.”
In his remarks, former PDP National Chairman, Abubakar Kawu Baraje, noted that agitation for North Central to produce the next President could only succeed when people of the region speak with one voice.
Kogi State PDP Chairman, Sam Uhuotu, who stressed that time had come for the zone to produce the next President, urged members to support the agitation.
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