The Chief Whip of the Senate, Sen. Orji Kalu, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to consider picking Ahmad Lawan as a consensus candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Kalu, in a statement he issued on Thursday in Abuja, described Lawan as having the potential to stabilise and secure Nigeria.
“I urge President Muhammadu Buhari to consider giving Nigeria a man who can give the entire country a sense of belonging; fix our economy, secure all parts of the country, take education very seriously and protect his legacy.
“The man Nigerians can trust is Senator Ahmad Lawan.
“Picking Ahmad Lawan as the consensus candidate of the APC will heal and stabilise the country as it is the closest to equity, justice and fairness.
“I strongly believe that the fairness Nigerians need is to produce a president from the South East of Nigeria. In the absence of the South East, it is the North East,” Kalu said.
He argued that the two regions were the only ones yet to produce the president of Nigeria.
“And since the opposition has gone North East, it is ideal and wise that the APC go North East.
“I am sure Nigerians will not waste their votes on any candidate that is not from the two regions in the next year’s general elections and following years,” Kalu said.
He also noted that money cannot buy Nigeria’s president, stressing that only cohesion and consensus among the regions could produce a president.
According to him, “if you throw in money, majority of the electorate will collect the money but still vote according to their conscience.
“The earliest Nigerians and presidential aspirants understand that no amount of money can buy the president of the country, the better for everyone.
“If money can buy the office of the president of Nigeria, late MKO Abiola could have bought it with extra change. If money can buy the president, former President Goodluck Jonathan could have bought the presidential seat in 2015,” Kalu said. (NAN)
