Former governor of Zamfara state and three-term Senator,
Ahmed Sani Yarima has tipped himself as an aspirant for Nigeria’s presidency in
2023 and has declared as unworkable any power transfer understanding or
agreement Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu may have contrived with President Muhammadu
Buhari.
Yarima, who is from the north west region like Buhari and
was a founding member of the All Progressives Congress in 2014, even disputed
the existence of any agreement between Buhari and Tinubu.
Yarima spoke in an interview published by Daily Trust on
Monday and cited Buhari’s recent statement that he doesn’t have a candidate and
that nobody should even use his name, as indications of the non-existence of
any MoU.
“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. 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(Buhari) 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 open that he doesn’t have any
candidate. So, these are just speculations”.
Senator Yarima said nothing in the constitution forbids him
from seeking the presidency, even though he comes from the North west region
like Buhari.
“I am a Nigerian. I don’t believe in regionalism, saying
that this man is from this side or that. Let’s have the best people who have
much more better things to offer to Nigerians. Everybody should come up with
what they want to do for Nigerians and how they want to move Nigeria forward.
The contributions you want to make and such a person should be assessed by
Nigerians whether he or she should be elected or not. It is not from where you
come from and not your religion. As far as I am concerned, you should look at
individuals as Nigerians otherwise we should ask for rotation of presidency in
the constitution. If we are looking at regions, North-West has done, let’s go
to South-South; which means anybody whether he is good or not but once
determined by that zone should be elected. If it is not determined by
constitutional arrangement, every Nigerian should aspire to be in elective
position of government”.
“On capacity, I believe that I have the energy, I have the
knowledge and I have the experience. And as for resources, you don’t look at
the resources for going for a position. Once I have something to move around
for the campaigns, I think I can do it. 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. It is not the candidate that will
sponsor a party. So you don’t need so much resource to contest. I was governor,
I had no N20million when I started campaigning for governor. And I became
governor by the grace of God. It is God himself that will decide. What you need
is to have good intentions. I am not going for president to be rich. I am not
going for the presidency to be in a position of superiority. It is a matter of
service”.
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Time will tell. politics is all about popularity, ability to carry people along, and more importantly respect for other peoples religion and tribes.
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