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From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Elder statesman and Second Republic politician, Tanko Yakasai has stressed that his support for the presidential bid of the leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Ahmed Tinubu come 2023 is still intact.
Speaking to Saturday Sun, Yakasai explained that his presence at Tuesday’s meeting of The National Movement (TIM) led by Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has not invalidated his support for the APCs strongman, adding that his choice of Tinubu was made on his own volition and no one would take his place or position.
Recall that supporters of Tinubu’s Presidential project across the country were unsettled by the presence of the elder statesman at the Abuja meeting of the movement which many speculate was geared towards the emergence of a new political party, in which Kwankwaso was billed to emerge as its leading light.
Yakasai explained that he was not a party to the initiation of the meeting or to the emergence of the Movement (TIM), but was only invited to grace the occasion by Senator Kwankwaso adding that he has, over the years, enjoyed a cordial personal relationship with Kwankwaso and his late father
“Apart from the fact that he had consulted me regularly while he was in government, I was one of the three persons, including his father, he appointed to go and thank President Olusegun Obasanjo when he was appointed the Minister of Defence” said the elder statesman.
“I was also a close associate to his political mentor, the Late Senator Hamisu Musa, a Second Republic PRP Senator, when I served as a Special Adviser to President Shehu Shagari on National Assembly” he stated.
The nonagenarian reiterated that since 2011, he had called it quit with partisan politics, adding that he made a public statement where he affirmed that he was done with partisan politics and being a card carrying member of any political party, but would continue to exercise his right to support individuals and political parties of his choice.
Asked if he thought the Abuja meeting would lead to the inauguration of a nee political party, he said he would not know for now, but averred that, “My experience is that this is the trajectory of the emergence of political parties in Nigeria. This is how NPN began- I was part of the foundation. It started with the meeting of like minds and evolved to a political party ”
Meanwhile, Yakasai has expressed an opposing view from that of Kwankwaso on the issue of zoning of the Presidency to the South.
While Kwankwaso is opposed to zoning and had recently stated that politicians canvassing for zoning of the Presidency to a particlar region were lazy politicians who could not take the pains to convince Nigerians, Yakasai believed that zoning of the Presidency to the South at this time would engender unity and cohesion in the country.
“I have been advocating that after Buhari, the Presidency should come from the South in order to promote national unity, because of if you don’t give a section of the country a sense of belonging, then national unity would ultimately suffer” he stated.
