Arewa group raises the alarm over plot to gift Jonathan APC presidential ticket

A northern group, Arewa Peoples’ Forum (APF), has raised the alarm saying Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State was championing plot to facilitate the emergence of former President Goodluck Jonathan as the All Progressives Party’s (APC) presidential candidate for the 2023 elections.

According to the group, the governor has been pulling strings behind the scene to complete the defection of the ex-president to the party and claim its ticket, an arrangement they consider harmful to the party’s unity and chances of victory at the polls.

This was alleged in Kaduna, where the group urged the North and other members of the party to intervene in this plan and rise to save the party from an embarrassing implosion.

The statement signed by the group’s leader, Alhaji Ishaku Ahmed said: “It is high time the north and other members of the party interested in the continued existence of the APC as a united political entity rose up to challenge Bagudu over his plot to hand over the party’s ticket to the former president.

“He has acted without care for the sensitivity of the North and other Nigerians with his obsession with the idea that Jonathan should waltz into the party and claim the biggest prize.”

“Even if the governor has conveniently forgotten, northerners and other Nigerians recall vividly that the entire basis for the formation of the APC was to ensure the dislodge from power of the same man he now wants to give the ticket to.

“For over two years, founding members of the party then campaigned against Jonathan, accusing him of poor leadership.

“How does Bagudu and others expect the party to convince Nigerians otherwise in 2023? Will we not look unserious to them? How does he intend to market him in the north after the many humiliations we suffered from the rhetoric delivered against us during his campaign in 2015? Or does he think we have forgotten so soon?

“Also important is the fact that any ambition by the former president would run afoul of the constitution, having already been sworn in twice. Why should the APC risk legal annulment and other complications on the account of a man.

“The APC is a product of the sweat and sacrifice of so many people who deserve better than this imposition agenda. An emergence of GEJ is a slap on the face to many and will split the party and guarantee its defeat.”

“We advise the governor to desist and urge northerners to rise against this idea.”