The All Progressives Congress (APC) has denied speculations of an
attempt by the Party to lure former President Goodluck Jonathan as its
candidate in the 2023 presidential election.In the last few months, the media have been awash with speculations that
some northern governors were working hard to ensure that Jonathan got
the APC ticket.
But Mai Mala Buni, Governor of Yobe State, who also doubles as the
Chairman of the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning
Committee, said in an interview with the BBC Hausa service, “Those
peddling such information, they are afraid. But for now, there is
nothing in the APC which has anything to do with the aspiration for
2023.”
“Even if someone wants to base assumption on our recent visit to him
(Jonathan) during his birthday, we were there because of his capacity as
a former President of Nigeria.
“Again, even if there is nothing, when we are talking of peaceful
coexistence, we must give credit to former President Jonathan on the
issue of peace. How he accepted defeat in 2015 and resigned to fate.
That has qualified him to be a statesman and he is now among our
fathers.”
Governor Buni said it was customary to visit other people and exchange
pleasantries.
“Our visit to Jonathan was pronounced because of his status as a former
president; that could be why some may think there was something beneath.
“There were numerous such visits to leaders of Peoples Democratic Party and the APC; why are others not being mentioned but Jonathan?” he asked.
But when asked if the APC would be willing to accept the former
President if he shows interest in joining the ruling party and being its
candidate for the 2023 presidential election, Buni said that would be a
new discussion entirely.
“Even in America where we got this democracy, I’ve not seen where peopleare being confined to a limit,” he said.
And when asked if the APC was indecisive on Jonathan, Buni said, “Youare talking of democracy and at the same time talking of giving him,don’t forget even when President Muhammadu Buhari went to revalidate hisparty membership in Daura, he said it is the people at the grassrootsthat will select leaders upwards, that no one should expect to becrowned from Abuja. This has shown that in the APC now, it is from thelower level upwards, not that people will be imposed from the top.
“Then who are we to say we are considering Jonathan? How? It has to be aparty affair and once it is a party affair, then we are talking about
the people. So, we have nothing like that on our agenda. What we have
now, and is of importance to us, is to ensure peace amongst party
members. Also, (it is) to bring members of other political parties,
whichever party it might be, whoever wants, should come into the APC.
This is our plan for now. We have yet to start talking about aspirants,
we are not in any discussion about aspirants.”
