The Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, said northern governors of the All Progressives Congress, APC, didn’t support southern presidency because of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Lalong said the APC northern governors’ push for a southern presidency was to promote the unity, peace, and stability of Nigeria within the spirit of fairness, equity, and justice which the late Premier of the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, stood for.
He stated this while speaking at the ninth Annual Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Lecture on Leadership and Good Governance held in Lafia, Nasarawa State, on Saturday.
The governor, who served as the Director-General of Tinubu’s Presidential Campaign Organisation, in a statement issued by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Macham Makut said, “When I led my colleagues, the northern governors, to push for power shift to the South, it was not because we wanted Asiwaju to be President. Rather, we wanted to ensure that justice and fairness prevails in our nation for the unity, peace and harmony. That is what we believe our revered father of blessed memory Sir Ahmadu Bello would do in such circumstances. Fortunately, the party delegates chose Asiwaju who was eventually accepted by Nigerians as he was unanimously elected.”
Lalong urged Nigerians both in the North and across the country to support the President-elect as he takes on the mantle of leadership.
The governor noted that because the late Sardauna lived a life of accommodation, tolerance, justice and fairness, his legacies had endured long after his demise.
He said the North remained an important stakeholder in the Nigerian project and that the region’s contributions towards his election could not be over-emphasised.
He said, “The northern region needs serious attention in various sectors ranging from security to education, infrastructure, agriculture, economic revival and restoration of law and order in various areas that have been ravaged by insecurity. It is heartening to note that the Northern Governors Forum under my leadership has done a great deal of work on bringing our people together as one people with one a common destiny.”