A forum of chieftains of the All Progressives Congress in the North under the platform, Northern Progressives Union( NPU) have advised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to consider certain former governors from the region for ministerial positions.
The spokesperson of the NPU, Mohammed Ibrahim Kiyawa, issued the words of caution in a statement on Monday.
Jigawa appealed to President Tinubu to rebuff pressures from the former governors, particularly the North West whom he accused of half-hearted commitment to the aspiration of Tinubu during the general elections.
The NPU which singled out the immediate past governor of Jigawa State, Abubakar Badaru for mention, maintained that “based on the fact that they are all spent forces, failed politicians and disgruntled so-called leaders who don’t fit into today’s reality of the present vision of the Renewed Hope mantra of the present administration.”
“We are the foot soldiers of the APC in this part of the country and therefore making a categorical statement urging Mr President and the APC as a political party not entertain the idea of nominating any of the former Governors from the region in the incoming cabinet as they do not have the required capacities and capabilities to drive the process.
“Our demand is legitimate and is consequent upon the misdeeds of some of them during the 2023 general elections where most were moles and fifth columnists used by the opposition parties and in most cases funds given to them for elections were personalised and kept for self-serving purposes.
“While President Tinubu was mobilising at all levels, the former governor seeking ministerial nomination could not deliver votes from his area,” the statement further read.
The group noted that Jigawa, Yobe and Zamfara states can be adjudged among the least politically astute states in Northern Nigeria and thus they are most likely to move in line with the body language of their key leaders.
He said: “In Jigawa State 2023 presidential election, the Hadeijia Emirate consisting of Birniwa, Kirikasamma, Guri, Hadejia, Malam Madori, Kaugama, Auyo and Kafin Hausa local governments, massively voted for APC owing to the fact that one of them was made APC governorship candidate for the first time ever since the creation of the state, the votes were not necessarily due to any funds disbursed by the former Governor. In the first place, the Governor never disbursed any money; the truth is that for some of us on the ground, it was found out that the People’s Democratic Party outspent APC, thus the reason for PDP gathering some considerable votes otherwise. It should have been a landslide for APC because of the zoning arrangement in favour of the governorship candidate of our great party as stated.
“The PDP had a very good show in the Gumel Emirate comprising Gumel, Maigatari, and Sule Tankarkar local governments, this again may be due to those places being traditionally PDP apologists and perhaps APC’s non-mobilization of the appropriate resources, the group stated.
“APC did very well in the Ringim Emirate consisting of Ringim, Garki, Taura, and Gagarawa owing to the philanthropy of a man called Gerawa who’s arguably the biggest entrepreneur in the state and the biggest investor in the politics of the state.
As for Kazaure zone which is the governor’s zone, it was more of even between the two parties, again it may be due to lack of necessary goodwill and lack of appropriate resources. The local governments include Babura, Kazaure, Gwiwa, Roni, and Yankwashi.”