‘Babachir spoke for himself’ — Dogara, northern APC Christians react to Obi endorsement

Members of a group of northern Christians in the All Progressives Congress (APC) have distanced themselves from the endorsement of Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP).

The group is led by Babachir Lawal, former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), and Yakubu Dogara, former speaker of the house of representatives.

In a statement on Thursday, Lawal had said the group has agreed to endorse Obi.

The group had earlier expressed reservations over the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC, and said it would adopt a consensus candidate.

Speaking on the decision to support the LP in an earlier statement, Lawal said the group considered justice, equity, and harmonious co-existence of all Nigerians.

Amid varied reactions, in another statement on Thursday, Lawal insisted on the choice of Obi, saying “this is justice; this is equity; this is political engineering at its best and one that engineers peace and harmonious co-existence of the various socio-political and religious classes of our nation”.

But in another statement, eight members of the group said Lawal spoke for himself, adding that a collective decision would be announced soon.

“We want to draw the attention of the general public to the recent position canvassed by our Chairman, Engr B D Lawal, as the position of our Group,” the statement reads.

“We wish to state that necessary consultations have been concluded, and based on manifestly unassailable empirical data, the group is poised to adopt a position which will be made known to the public at an interfaith event to be held very soon.

“Suffice to say that no one in the group including the Chairman has been mandated to speak to the public about our position at this material time.

“Based on our modus operandi, our position was meant to be presented to the general public at the event above referred to. That has not changed.

“Consequently, the decision to endorse a particular candidate and the statement credited to the chairman are solely the decision and views of the Chairman which he is absolutely entitled to but not that of the group.

“We hope this statement clears all the querries most of us have been inundated with on this all important subject matter.”

Signatories to the statement Dogara; Simon Achuba, former Kogi deputy governor; Albert Atiwurcha; Doknan Sheni; Mela A. Nunge, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN); Ishaya Bauka, a retired general; Ibrahim Haruna; and Leah Olusiyi.