By Marcus Ikechukwu
A group, Movement for Better Nigeria, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to endorse Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The group said it would mobilise Nigerians against the party, if Osinbajo loses out in the forthcoming primary election.
Dr Paul Dowells, Coordinator of the Group, said there won’t be a better pay-back opportunity for President Buhari than to rally behind Osinbajo to square up with Atiku Abubakar in the 2023 general elections.
Dowells also noted that if things go contrary and Osinbajo fails to clinch the presidency in 2023, they would have no choice than to mobilise Nigerians against the party’s legacies and work on the conscience of the citizens to sway their votes elsewhere.
“We cannot allow him (Buhari) to impose anybody on the party and we want to sound it here that if such a thing should happen,we will mobilize the entire Nigerians to ensure that APC is a goner,” he told journalists in Abuja on Saturday.
“I want to say here again and again that if Mr President should make such a mistake,we will make sure that APC is a goner, number two,we will make sure that his name is erased in the history of this country because we know the people that are coming in the PDP and what they can do.”
“They will ensure his legacies are eroded in the country and that is why he must not allow anybody outside Prof. Yemi Osibanjo. If this happen,we will make sure that a very neutral person in another political platform emerges and whatever is his agenda will not stand.”
“We will ensure that the person that Nigerians want if not Yemi Osibanjo, will be a very neutral person.”
“We also call on President Muhammadu Buhari to name his preferred successor before 2023 intensifies; we, members of Movement For Better Nigeria, MFBN wish to state in clear terms that a tested and trusted man of charisma should be considered.”
“We all know that the succession plan of every administration is as important as the administration itself, therefore as a group, poised to see a better Nigeria and ensure the sustainability of the giant strides of President Buhari led administration, we call on Mr President not to yield to pressure from some quarters to choose a candidate who does not have the capacity to lead the nation to it’s desired destination or choose out of sentiments.”
“As a group we want Mr President to ensure that which ever way the party chooses to nominate it’s candidate either through consensus or direct primaries; nobody should be allowed to use money and resources to mesmerize the delegates which abet the corruption that his administration is known to fight against. The primaries should be a free, fair and credible.”
“The president should consider the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo as his successor following his leadership qualities, loyalty and love to the present administration as exemplified during his temporary stay as the Acting President of Nigeria.”
“Vice President Osinbajo within the period constituted the Presidential Task Force on Food Security mandated to reduce prices of food items in the country. He approved the award of N126 billion road projects spread across Kano, Bauchi, Adamawa, Kwara, Gombe, Enugu and Kaduna states. These are few to mention.
“We are confident of the president’s sagacity and sense of judgement because Prof. Osinbajo as Nigeria’s Acting President has gained some good popularity among the Nigerian people and for the APC to sustain it’s power, it must field a credible and refined candidate who will be able to contend with the opposition PDP and ensure that victory is gotten.”
“But, then, that can only be achieved if our brothers and sisters from the northern part of the country support him because one good turn deserves another and this is the turn of right choice which is Vice president Osinbajo.”
