Zoning: Tinubu’s campaign organisation asks Lawan, Yahaya Bello to step down

The Bola Tinubu campaign organisation has asked Senate President Ahmad Lawan, Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi, and Ahmed Yerima, ex-Zamfara governor, to withdraw from the presidential race.

On Saturday, the northern All Progressives Congress (APC) governors released a statement calling on presidential hopefuls from the region to withdraw from the APC presidential race.

They also asked President Muhammadu Buhari to look toward the southern presidential hopefuls when considering his successor.

Reacting to the development, Bayo Onanuga, the campaign organisation’s spokesperson, commended the gesture, saying all lovers of peace, progress, equity, justice and stability of Nigeria should celebrate and honour the northern APC governors.

Onanuga, in a statement, described the northern governors as worthy patriots for their decision to support power shift to the south.

He said the decision removed all the anxieties, uncertainties and conspiracy theories hovering around the party’s presidential nomination process.

He also commended Abubakar Badaru, governor of Jigawa state, for promptly complying with the position of the northern leaders in APC.

“We enjoin other aspirants such as the Senate President Ahmad Lawan, Governor Yahaya Bello and former Governor Ahmed Rufai Sani Yerima to also bow out of the race. History will be kind to them all,” Onanuga said.

Onanuga said the APC can now go into its national convention without acrimony and suspicions.

“We salute the courage of the APC governors from the north for their patriotic decision to sustain the unity of the country and that of the party. The decision of the Northern APC governors has once again confirmed that our country will make tremendous progress when the bond of our unity is strengthened and preserved,” he said.

“Our APC northern governors have shown that the APC believes in power rotation in the true spirit of national equity and justice, unlike the opposition Peoples Democratic Party that abandoned its zoning policy for hegemonic political expediency, ethnic and religious calculations that grossly undermined the party’s commitment to the 1999 constitution.

“Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu believes that our country does better when leaders across the country rise above personal, ethnic and religious sentiments to uphold justice and fairness.

“These governors are patriots and honourable men who will be remembered for acting to save Nigeria from potential political crisis and another round of national distrust and mistrust.

“With this decision, the future of APC as the governing party in Nigeria is very bright as a true national party. The party can now proceed to hold the convention as a united, strong and viable political platform by electing a capable presidential flag bearer in whom the Nigerian people can invest their trust by supporting him to win the general election.

“We are confident that the delegates will make the right choice by giving Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu the honour of flying the flag of APC as our presidential candidate in line with the expectation of President Muhammadu Buhari that the candidate of our party must be one who can win election, who is acceptable to all Nigerians and one who can give Nigerians a sense of confidence and victory.”

Onanuga added that Tinubu is the most prepared and capable of all the aspirants and has shown this with his track record in Lagos.