10th October, 2021
In a move that will stir some political dust, the All Progressives Congress has recognised the Progressives Consolidation Group, canvassing support for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to emerge as presidential candidate in 2023.
According to a report, the group got the APC national secretariat approval, in a letter signed by the Director of Administration, Alhaji Abubakar Suleiman.
It was the first support group to be accorded such recognition by the party and may signal a plan by the party top guns to shut out other contestants in the race.
The only obstacle the group has to work full throttle for an Osinbajo presidency is Osinbajo himself.
The Vice-President is yet to formally declare interest in the job and has denounced all attempts to drag his name into the race.
A spokesman for the support group acknowledged the obstacle and group, appealed to the Vice President to yield to the public demand to declare his interest in the election.
In the letter to the group, Suleman claimed that the approval has the blessing of the caretaker national chairman of the party, Governor Mai Mala Buni.
“We write to inform you that the National Chairman, His Excellency, Mai Mala Buni, has approved your recognition as a support group of the party,” Suleman wrote, according to a report by Punch.
Addressing reporters on the recognition, the head of the Progressive Civil Society Group, one of the sub-groups in the PCG, Mr Bala Gide said:
“While we laud President Muhammadu Buhari’s forthright leadership and its populist direction which we expect an Osinbajo presidency to energetically sustain after 2023, we also applaud the focused forthrightness of the APC leadership ably led by Governor Buni.
“We deeply appreciate the widening mobilisation and deepening support that PCG and all associated groups working towards an Osinbajo presidency, all our grassroots and national leaders, as well as current governors, federal and state lawmakers along with various labour and professional groups will have further significant roles to play post-2023.
Gide also promised that members would conduct themselves with decorum and respect all other aspirants who may wish to fly the APC flag in the presidential race.
The PCG on 20 September members of the PCG visited Lafia in Nasarawa state to campaign for Osinbajo.
Dr Aliyu Rabiu- Kurfi, the chairman of the group visited the Nasarawa State House of Assembly.
Rabiu- Kurfi said that members of the group cut across the six geo-political zones of the state.
”We are in the House of Assembly on a voluntary mission in the interest of the party and the country at large.
”We are on a mission for Osinbajo for President come 2023 for a smooth transition,” he said.