Presidential candidates of some political parties in the February 2023 general election yesterday met with the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, and asked him to lead them to President Bola Tinubu.
The presidential candidates who met with Ganduje at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja include that of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Action Democratic Party (ADP), National Rescue Movement (NRM), and Action Peoples Party (APP) among others.
Speaking behalf of his counterparts under the auspices of Forum of Concerned Presidential Candidates Forum, NRM standard bearer, Ambassador Felix Johnson Osakwe sought their inclusion in the administration of President Tinubu so they can contribute their quota to national development.
“We are here, sir, not only to see Mr President; number one is to be identified with you and to thank God for your appointment. Then number two: we see you as a father, sir, who has been a commander in chief of the state and here you are today to be the pilot that will lead the presidential candidate, especially those who are ready and those who love this country and the interest of this country first before politics, before parties.
“That you will be the right person to lead us to meet with Mr President so he can hear our own views in person and also let him know that it is not all the presidential candidates that are against him. We chose not to go to court, because this is Nigeria and we have no other country to go.
“So we are here to thank you and to thank God and everyone seated here and to say, as presidential candidates, there is something we can offer this country, and I believe a government of inclusion will be necessary in times like this,” he stated.
In his response, Ganduje assured them their requests would be conveyed to President Tinubu and that he would ensure that they meet him in person, adding that they would be included to work for the party in the November 11 Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo governorship polls.
The former Kano governor implicitly mocked his predecessor, Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, for being without a political party.
Kwankwaso, who was the presidential candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples’ Party (NNPP), was recently suspended by the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT).
Ganduje told his visitors: “I thank you for being faithful to your respective parties. What I am seeing is one political aspirant who became a presidential candidate by accident, who became a presidential candidate by hijacking another party because he was party-less.
“He (Kwankwaso) could not give an account according to INEC – that it cannot qualify it to be a political party. He decided to hijack a political party. And since he could not realise his aspirations he decided to make that party a revenue platform rather than a political party. He has now decided to even expel the founder. God forbid; he will not succeed.
“You presidential candidates, I salute you for being good ambassadors of your own political parties, not destroyers of your own political parties.”
