8th February, 2022
Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto State said Nigeria is currently a sinking ship that needs a competent leader to save it from total collapse.
Tambuwal stated this on Monday during a consultation meeting with the People Democratic Party (PDP) delegates in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital.
The governor said he joined the race for the 2023 presidency to save the country from total disintegration.
He said that he left the Peoples Democratic Party in 2015 when he was the Speaker of the House of Representatives and joined the All Progressives Congress due to the security challenges during the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
Tambuwal added that he returned to the PDP in 2018 when he realized that the APC government was worse than the Jonathan administration.
He said, “I left the PDP and joined APC in 2015 where we campaigned for Buhari because we thought that he had the potential to fight the insecurity issues and other challenges bedeviling the nation. But unfortunately, he cannot make things work as we expected.
“That was why I also decided to dump the APC and return my former party, the PDP in 2018.’’
He called on the PDP members to give him the chance, saying, “By the grace of God, I will do my best to make sure that the party takes over the country come 2023 elections.”
On the insecurity in Zamfara State, Tambuwal said the critical situation of the state needs collective efforts of all and sundry in bringing lasting peace to the state, rather than politicians engaged in political war because of their differences.
The governor said he wondered how politicians could have time for politics when killings in the state have become the order of the day.
He urged the Zamfara State Government to provide a medium through which resource persons from the state could come together and proffer a lasting solution to the security challenge.
According to him, the high level of insecurity needs to be faced with all sense of seriousness.
He expressed his sympathy over the activities of bandits which have resulted in the killing of several innocent citizens.
However, the former Sokoto State Governor, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, who was at the meeting, said it was time to kick start preparations for the 2023 general elections.
He recalled that in 2019, out of seven contestants of the PDP Presidential aspirant from the Northwest, Tambuwal was the second in votes.
Bafarawa said: “And now all the five Presidential aspirants from the Northwest have decided to step down and back Tambuwal for the PDP Presidential ticket because ‘he is young and energetic’.
On the level of insecurity in Zamfara, Bafarawa said: “We are not here to abuse or shift blame but to draw the attention of the state governor to focus more on a new mechanism to tackle banditry.”
Bafarawa urged the people of the state to embark on massive prayers for the leaders in order to have the courage and wisdom to face the challenges.
In his remarks, Zamfara State Deputy Governor, Mahdi Ali-Gusau, urged delegates to remain steadfast for the success of the party in the state and country at large.
He appealed to Gov. Tambuwal to carry everyone along if eventually, he wins the Presidential election in 2023.