Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima, former governor of Zamfara State and two-term senator has said that President Buhari will not endorse the APC National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s presidential ambition.
The APC chieftain in an Interview with Dailytrust said rumours that Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu have an agreement ahead of 2023 is false.
The former lawmaker said when asked about insinuations that President Buhari signed a pact with Tinubu, to hand over to him in 2023, he said: “How do you intend to tackle this? I don’t think Nigeria belongs to any of them and I don’t think anyone in any position can determine what Nigeria should have. ”
Speaking further, he said “Politics is about election – for people to decide what they want. So it is the majority of the people that will determine who they want. If he signed an agreement with Asiwaju, that agreement cannot be implemented even in getting the ticket. It cannot guarantee Asiwaju a ticket.”
“For example, the president has announced and the party has decided that our primary is going to be direct – just like we elected Mr. President during the primaries of the last general elections.
Will he direct everybody to go and vote for Asiwaju? Because, I believe it is going to be a free and fair election, agreement or no agreement is a political statement, but I don’t think that is possible because I don’t think that the Buhari that I know will sign any (such) agreement.”
“He knows that he doesn’t have the powers and the authority to hand over power to whomever he so wishes. He said it is going to be free and fair; in fact, he even said it in the opinion that he doesn’t have any candidate. So, these are just speculations.”
The former Zamfara governor was asked if the president backs a candidate, he will go ahead with his ambition.
He said: “Buhari has already said he doesn’t have a candidate and that nobody should even use his name. He has already said his mind.”
When asked if he has the popularity and resources to defeat Tinubu in a presidential contest, he answered in the affirmative.
“I believe that I have the energy, I have the knowledge and I have the experience. The resources that are required are contributions from every citizen of Nigeria (who are in the party) because it is the party that will sponsor a candidate,” he said.