23rd February, 2022
Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed has disclosed that the zoning of Presidency to the South by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), posed no threat to the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The governor made this disclosure, even as he described former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as a man with a lot of wisdom and an elder statesman per excellence.
Mohammed who spoke shortly paying a visit to the former President in Abeokuta on Wednesday, said the PDP would continue to strategise to rescue Nigeria from the present situation she found herself.
To him, the zoning of Presidency to the South by the APC “is not a threat to the PDP, because each party is trying to strategize, to plan and organise. If they zone to the South, it is open to us to see how it is going to give us more electoral victory or if we put it to the North it will give us more electoral victory.
“This is the kind of things we are doing; the leg works, the permutations and so and so forth. So that, at least, what ever we are going to do, is give us and provide for Nigerians to choose between the best alternatives.”
He explained his mission to the former President, stressing the relationship between them and the issue PDP were basically the essence.
According to him, “We know that Baba is non-partisan, we know he’s an elder statesman per excellence. But, we are rebuilding our party to remove rancour, division and what-have-you. So, we still need him, because his words of wisdom are always very useful.
“So, I have come to sound his opinion on some the things going in the party, to close ranks and make sure that we provide Nigerians with the opportunity to rescue the country, from the present division going around which we have found ourselves.”
On his chances of getting the Party’s Presidential ticket to contest the 2023 election, Mohammed expressed optimism, stressing, “to me, Presidency is a consensus; a stakeholder and a statesmanship, its responsibilities. Of course, every Nigerian should try to contribute his or her quota to the growth and development of the nation.
“More so, when leadership recruitment should be based on merit, should be based on making sure that, we bring everybody on board and should not be based on manifestation of separatist, which are the instruments and the disgruntlement feelings that are capable of dividing us further.
“Nigeria is too large and too important to be ignored. Some of us have benefited so much. It is not about me and my expression, but about the country,” he asserted.