By Adesina Soyooye
Hours after former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir Lawal, Chairman of the Northern Christians Caucus in Politics, endorsed the Presidential ambition of Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party, some members of the Caucus have tackled him.
Lawal had, in an interview with Channels TV on Thursday, November 24, 2022, said that the Caucus has decided to throw its weight behind Obi.
The Caucus which includes many prominent Northern Politicians of the Christian Faith became very active after the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a Muslim, chose the former Governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima, another Muslim, as his running mate.
Members of the Caucus, strongly protested, as did Christians all over the Country, the same-Faith ticket.The members termed it an insult and a satanic ticket.They said they would never back a Tinubu-Shettima ticket, and would, with time, announce their choice.
But on Thursday, Lawal, while being interviewed by Channels Television, announced the decision of the Caucus to back the Obi-Datti ticket.
Instructively, on Wednesday, November 23, 2022, a number of publications had quoted Lawal as saying the Group was backing Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. He was quoted to have said the Caucus had a discussion with Atiku, he granted them their requests, and so, they decided to back him.
But on Thursday, November 24, the story changed. However, the Executive members of the Caucus, led by its Secretary, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, disowned Lawal.
In a statement signed by all of them on same Thursday, they said Lawal’s endorsement of Obi was hasty. They posited that neither Lawal as their Chairman, nor any other member, has the right to announce the backing of a Presidential candidate by the Caucus without due consultation.
Following is the full text of their statement.
“The former cabinet secretary announced his support for the Labour Party candidate in a controversial statement on Thursday.
“We want to draw the attention of the general public to the recent position canvassed by our Chairman, Engr B D Lawal, as the position of our Group.
“We wish to state that necessary consultations have been concluded, and based on manifestly unassailable empirical data, the group is poised to adopt a position which will be made known to the public at an interfaith event to be held very soon.
“We wish to state that necessary consultations have been concluded, and based on manifestly unassailable empirical data, the group is poised to adopt a position which will be made known to the public at an interfaith event to be held very soon.
“Also, it suffices to say that no one in the group including the Chairman has been mandated to speak to the public about our position at this material time.
“Based on our modus Operandi, our position was meant to be presented to the general public at the event above referred to. That has not changed.
“Consequently, the decision to endorse a particular candidate and the statement credited to the chairman are soley the decision and views of the Chairman which he is absolutely entitled to but not that of the group.
“We hope this statement clears all the querries most of us have been inundated with on this all important subject matter.
“Signatories:
- Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara
- HE, Simon Achuba
- Hon Albert Atiwurcha
- Prof Doknan Sheni
- Mela A. Nunge, SAN
- Gen Ishaya Bauka Rtd
- Prof Ibrahim Haruna
- Mrs Leah Olusiyi
November 24, 2022
