Some notable leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the 19 Northern States, have rejected the emergence of former Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed as consensus candidates of the party.
The leaders comprising former governors, past ministers and lawmakers, had converged in Abuja in reaction to the declaration of Saraki and Muhammed as consensus candidates of the PDP by Prof Ango Abdullahi of the Northern Elders Forum.
It was reported earlier that the Northern Leaders in a communiqué signed by former Vice-Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, had on Friday shortlisted former President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki and Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, as the two leading presidential aspirants to represent the zone in the PDP presidential primary.
Prof. Abdullahi had said that four PDP presidential aspirants, including Saraki, Mohammed; Sokoto state governor, Aminu Tambuwal and the former Managing Director of FSB International Bank, Alhaji Mohammed Hayatudeen, submitted themselves for the drive towards a consensus candidate
The Northern leaders, had said, their decision on Saraki and Bala Mohammed was arrived at, based on certain criteria adopted in the assessment of the four aspirants who submitted themselves for the exercise.
Abdulllahi, had on behalf of the Northern leaders urged Saraki and Bala Mohammed to work together to make allowance for further consultations “to foster understanding among themselves, and the PDP community to ensure a rancour-free primary in which all eligible delegates would be free to exercise their right.”
But in it’s reaction on Monday, the PDP northern leaders in a communiqué jointly signed by former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido and ex-Minister of Police Affairs, Adamu Waziri, said it is imperative to state that the country is at a critical time and so all aspirants should head to the convention to test their popularity instead of seeking consensus arrangement through the backdoor.
The communiqué read, “We are happy to note that the Northern Elders Forum has through its secretary, Dr Hakeem Baba Ahmed dissociated itself from Prof Ango’s media statement. They made it clear that it is Ango’s personal opinion.”
While noting that the aspirants are consulting among themselves on what to do, “They are consulting other senior citizens in order to create a better understanding and unity among themselves. Their ultimate objective is to build a national consensus that will produce a national candidate for the party.”
The leaders explained that, “Our meeting today is to reinforce the press release issued on 23rd April 2022 by Sule Lamido. We maintain that all our aspirants are qualified to occupy the Nigerian Presidency under the PDP banner and we shall continue to support, promote and campaign and win the Presidency by the candidate produced by our national convention scheduled for May 28th – 29th 2022.
“We appeal to all aspirants to be more temperate in their utterances and work to promote harmony and better understanding within the PDP family.
“We also want to assure all PDP members and indeed all Nigerians that we are aware of your pains, prayers, expectations, and hope to be rescued. Your abiding faith in PDP shall set us free in 2023.”
Notable among those who attended the meeting were Sule Lamido, Adamu Waziri, ex-Minister of National Planning and Sanusi Dagash.
Others were former Kogi State governor, Ibrahim Idris, two-time governor of Adamawa state, Boni Haruna and a former lawmaker, Senator Dino Melaye, among others.
