Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto State has urged the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to aggregate its acts and move towards coming up with a presidential candidate that Nigerians will buy into and elect during the 2023 election.
The presidential aspirant said this at an interactive meeting with a Forum of former Ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under the platform of the PDP at Asokoro, Abuja.
Tambuwal said he foots the bill of the modest list of what is required to lead the country.
“What is key for PDP is a candidate that we can all work to sale together and win this election, not where the person is coming from,” the Governor of Sokoto told the former leaders of the country.”
Explaining that his quest for the topmost job in the country is driven by altruism, patriotism and unity of the nation, he said “it is nothing personal. It is all about our country.”
Burnishing his tripodal credentials that cut across the executive, legislature and judiciary, he emphasised that he has a fair understanding of the country, where, unfortunately, “things are now getting bad.”
To remedy the situation, he reiterated the need for the PDP to have a credible candidate like himself “who have done quite a lot in Sokoto, in view of the resources at the administration’s disposal,” enumerating some of these achievements as prompt payment of salary, pension and the overhauling of healthcare delivery, education and more.
“I have an understanding of the Nigerian system today and can be bridge that is all round,” he reassures, pointing out that Nigerians are now “in a ship without a captain and it is clearly sinking.”
He offered that the antidote to this is for the “collective and collectivity of all in the PDP and Nigerians who understand the gravity of what is going on” to come together and salvage the country. This, he opined “can be done only through “processes and conventions that will throw up a credible candidate.”
He said currently, President Muhammadu Buhari does not understand Nigeria because of his clear case of exclusion in the governance of the country, bad economy and insecurity, the latter of which leaves Governors with no option.
“As Governors, we are limited in what can be done. The security architecture is centralized within the purview of the Federal Government,” whereas citizens nocturnally scamper for safety to neighboring countries.
Addressing the issue of his alleged rift with former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, Gov. Tambuwal said his differences with both were misconstrued as personal. “There was nothing personal,” he said, noting that he “had reasons to disagree” with Jonathan; and also “disagreed with PMB from 2018 because of the way he ran and is still running the country.”
“We must not fail our country,” he appealed to the former Ministers under the aegis of the PDP.
