By Gideon Njoku
In a sharp disagreement with Mamman Daura, President Muhammadu Buhari’s nephew, former Secretary to the Federal Government, (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has asked the President to stop every Northerner in the All Progressives Congress, (APC), from contesting hands for the Presidency in 2023.
Lawal an ally of Buhari, was his first pick as the SGF. But after about two months of a powerful and controversial tenure, he was sacked in a gale of alleged corruption; for which he is under prosecution by the EFCC.
In what must be seen by not a few people as a surprise, Lawal said it would be unfair for the North to make a go at the Presidency again, and asked that it be zoned to the South.
But he has a preference to the Southern part it should be zoned to.
Lawal said he would prefer it be zoned to the the South-west, saying he is disnayed that some Northerners are, again, angling for the Presidency in 2023.
He, also found it ridiculous that anybody would oppose the Presidential ambition of an APC chieftain, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
With Tinubu’s sacrifices, he said he is suprised anybody would think of stopping him from contesting.
He lays the blame on some Governors, who he also alleges planned the sack of Oshiomhole as the APC National Chairman, because of the former Chairman’s closeness to Tinubu, thus tying Oshiomhole’s sack to Tinubu’s ambition. For emphasis, he invited God’s wrath on anynody who would try to stop Tinubu. He, also accused the governor’s,allegedly behind Oshiomhole’s fall, of trying to undermine Buhari’s structures.
In an an interview with Sunday Punch, Lawal said: “Those who wanted Adams Oshiomhole out are more desperate because of 2023, because as National Chairman of a party, from my own observation, there’s very little he could do to favour or impose a Presidential candidate in his party.
“Except we want to bring the wrath of God on our heads, because of his role in building the party, equity and a sense of justice demands that he be given a chance in a free and fair system, and let his luck prevail.
“Nobody with a clear conscience in the APC will deny Tinubu the opportunity to contest the Presidency. Nobody within the party had the moral right to even put a stumbling block on his path.
“The party must create an environment that is free and fair for anybody who wants to contest, including Tinubu. Let the delegates who must have emerged through a similarly free and fair process decide who they want to vote for.”
On the Northern quest, again, for the Presidency, Lawal said: ” A just and equitable way of doing things, is to agree as gentlemen, that since the North has had its President for the second tenure, the opportunity should be given to the South to produce the next President.”
Recall that, last week, Mamnan Daura had angered many zones when he called for the abrogation of Rotational Presidency, or what he called ‘turn by turn’ presidency, insisting that the most competent person be elected.
Many groups from other zones outside the North tackled him, saying it was his way of denying other zones the Presidency.
He was also asked if his Uncle, President Buhari, became the President based on competence.
On Saturday afternoon, the Presidency weighed in on the storm caused by Daura’s outing in the media. Shehu Garba, a Presidential Spokesperson, distanced the Presidency from Daura, saying what he said was his personal opinion, but insisted he was free, and had the right to put forward his opinion.
