#ElectionBuzzNig’23
A group in the All Progressives Congress, APC National Stakeholders Forum has called on the leadership of the APC to pick a Christian from Northern Nigeria as its Vice Presidential candidate.
The group which consists of some APC Chieftains made the call at a press briefing in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
The National Coordinator of the APC Stakeholders Forum, Mr Aliyu Audu who spoke during the briefing said the APC needs to be sensitive to the fault lines that are currently dividing Nigeria as a nation.
The APC in its recently concluded Presidential Primary, elected Mr. Bola Tinubu who is a Muslim from the Southern region of Nigeria.
Mr Audu said while the forum is conscious of the fact that religion should not be a determining factor in the leadership selection process, however, the peculiar circumstance that Nigeria finds herself calls for deep reflection on decisions that border on national lives.
“The country is deeply divided within our fault lines of ethnicity and religion and we cannot afford to jettison this sensibility in critical decision making. This is why we think that the All Progressives Congress must be guided by the sense of these sensibilities in the selection of the Vice Presidential Candidate of the party. To do otherwise would be to further fuel what divides us and give room for mischief makers to take advantage of our differences.
“In the spirit of nationalism, justice and fairness which the northern governors demonstrated a few days ago, the leaders of the north on whose shoulder the emergence of the Vice Presidential candidate rests must also demonstrate this spirit by ensuring that the candidate comes from the Christian faith,” Mr Audu said.
He added that the North has capable individuals from the Christian faith with a proven track record that can fill in the space of the Vice President.
In a separate development, another group, the North-East APC Youth Stakeholders Forum has called on the party to pick its Vice Presidential candidate from the North-east region of Nigeria.
The spokesperson of the group, Mr Haruna Sadauna made the call at a press briefing in Abuja.
He said that the North-East region has contributed immensely to the APC and therefore deserved special consideration for the position of Vice president.
“The North-East region had given block votes to the APC and supported the candidate from the other region right from its Inception. Looking at the current pathetic situation that the region is currently going through due to insurgency and another social unrest menace, zoning the position of the Vice President to the North East will neutralise the PDP Presidential candidate and mobilizes massive support from the region and other zones to ensure the victory of Alhaji Ahmed Bola Tinubu.
“We, therefore, appealed to our National, State critical and Non-critical Stakeholders especially our father president Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) our Candidate Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Senator Abdullahi Adamu led APC.
“While appreciating our Party Loyal Members Especially from the NorthWest and North Central Zones, we are appealing for their special consideration of the North-East Zone for the position of the Vice” Sadauna said.
Dominica Nwabufo
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