Clamour for northern president rubbish - Shekarau
Ibrahim Shekarau
A former Kano State Governor, Mallam
Ibrahim Shekarau, on Thursday, faulted the clamour by some stakeholders
for the emergence of a President of Northern extraction in 2015. He
described the call as rubbish.
He also argued that the recent defection
of the state governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, from the Peoples Democratic
Party to the All Progressives Congress would not affect the ruling party
negatively.
Shekarau, who recently defected to the
PDP, spoke with State House correspondents after a meeting with
Vice-President Namadi Sambo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said he had always kicked against the idea of localising the Presidency to a particular region.
He said, “I have never subscribed to the
argument of localising the Presidency to a particular region. If you
had followed my arguments and my presentations or debates during the
presidential election, I said so. My concern is what do we do to get the
right leadership regardless of where it is coming from.
“This issue of rotational presidency is
not the issue. What we should be talking about is balancing so that we
can carry the people along. Today, if I am a presidential candidate from
Kano and I tell you that my running mate is from Katsina, won’t you
think I am crazy?
“Do I have to have that written in any
document or constitution for me to know that if I am a presidential
candidate from Kano, my running mate has to come from the other side?
“So, this argument that it has to be my
turn and it has to be my village man is all rubbish. It is the problem
of lack of confidence among ourselves.”
When asked whether he was ready to
campaign for President Goodluck Jonathan if he emerged the PDP
candidate, Shekarau said whoever turned out to be the PDP candidate at
any level would be his candidate.
On Kwankwaso’s defection, the former
governor said, “His (Kwankwaso’s) defection cannot kill PDP. Those who
are current with the situation on the ground know that the governor of
Kano State had long before now been out of the PDP.
Meanwhile, the Northern Elders’ Council
led by ex-President Shehu Shagari’s political Adviser, Alhaji Tanko
Yakassai, on Thursday in Kaduna, endorsed President Jonathan and Sambo
for the 2015 presidency.
Yakassai, while speaking at the
inaugural ceremony of the General Assembly of the council, said they
would work for the success of the Jonathan/Sambo ticket in next year.
