As the politicking ahead of the 2023 general elections begins to gather momentum, Senate President Ahmad Lawan and Gombe State Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya yesterday in Minna held closed-door meetings with former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) and former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd).
Lawan’s visit coincided with the visit of Yahaya who was in the two houses earlier for seperate closed door sessions.
Lawan arrived Minna at about 1.30 pm and first visited General Abdulsalami before he went into another closed door session at Gen. Babangida.
The Senate president who was accompanied by the Niger East Senator, Sani Musa, spent about one hour at Abdulsalami’s house and about 40 minutes at IBB’s house.
Lawan told journalists after he met with them separately that the two leaders had a lot of roles to play in ensuring unity and peaceful co-existence in Nigeria.
While refusing to go deeper on political issues, he simply said he was in Minna to see the former Head of State who recently returned from a medical treatment and was recuperating.
“As our leader and elder statesman, we felt that we must make this visit today to come and sympathise with him and his family. We are grateful to God for the lives of our fathers and we pray that they recover completely so that they would be able to continue with their good work of ensuring that Nigeria remains united and Nigerians live peacefully amongst themselves,” he said.
Governor Inuwa assured that the APC presidential candidate, Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s chances are very high in the North East.
Yahaya, who is Bola Tinubu’s campaign coordinator in the North East, told journalists: “Our chances in the North-East are very high indeed. We are strong in our resolve to win the 2023 general elections, we shall succeed. It does not matter that the PDP presidential candidate is from the North-East. Both Tinubu and Atiku are all my brothers. Nigeria is one and we are struggling to maintain it as a united and indivisible country, it doesn’t matter where they come from, what we need is the best for Nigeria.”
On the reason for his visit, he said; “General Abdulsalam and IBB are our fathers and elder statesmen. Knowing them has been a blessing to us,” adding that he was in Minna to specifically see Abdulsalami who was recovering from an ailment.
The governor said the two former leaders were carrying out their duties in guiding and advising the younger ones on how to live together as one, saying their efforts should be applauded.
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