According to him, the machinations and the skirmishes of certain non-progressive elements in the Presidency, who have been fingered to be the purveyors of this ploy, not only rubbishes the impacts recorded in the North-South progressive alliance but also completely places it in jeopardy.
A pressure group under the aegis of the North-South Progressive Stakeholders has pleaded with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to honour the ‘unwritten agreement’ he had with the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, before he came into power in 2015.
The group, which made the appeal at a press conference held on Sunday in Abuja, stated that Buhari’s lukewarm attitude to the campaign of the ruling party’s flag bearer was fuelling the ‘frightening strain’ on the North-South alliance by suspected elements in the Presidency.
The development is coming barely a week after the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, claimed some ‘elements’ in Aso Rock were working against Tinubu’s victory.
An emotional El-Rufai, who dropped the bombshell when he featured on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily, expressed the belief that those behind the act were hiding behind the President’s desire to do what he thinks is right.
But addressing journalists on Sunday, Convener of the North-South Progressive Stakeholders, Alwan Hassan, disclosed that all the negative vibes from the presidency won’t have arisen had the President agreed to fulfil his promise.
A worried Hassan said that it would be unfair for the president and the North not to repay Asiwaju’s loyalty by ensuring he wins the 2023 presidential election.
The APC chieftain stated that the unfolding events leading up to the 2023 presidential election have continued to raise concerns in many quarters.
According to him, the machinations and the skirmishes of certain non-progressive elements in the Presidency, who have been fingered to be the purveyors of this ploy, not only rubbishes the impacts recorded in the North-South progressive alliance but also completely places it in jeopardy.
He said, “These individuals with their clandestine motives have continued to play with our unity as a country, using their powers to inflict needless hardship on Nigerians for their selfish and devilish interests.
“Our demand to Mr. President is that we understand there was an agreement, though not written between him and before Asiwaju, before we went for the primaries in 2014.
“We plead with him to keep to that promise. Asiwaju made sure that no Yoruba man from the South-West at the 2014 APC primaries contested primaries against Mr President. The same thing happened in 2019. Even without that agreement, Asiwaju has done a lot to put this government in place.
“We campaigned and voted for Muhammadu Buhari in 2003 and lost. Though we won the election, we were rigged out by the PDP. In 2007 and 2011, it was the same thing. But when Asiwaju came with the southwest and entered this promise with Mr. President, he delivered Buhari as president.
“We, in the North, will ever be thankful for this and want the president to, please, seal this alliance between us and ensure he comes out openly to campaign and tell the Northerners, the 12 million voters that have been consistently voting for him, to vote for Asiwaju in the next election.”