The All Progressives Congress, APC, has seen some notable Northern Christian leaders distancing themselves from Babachir Lawal, the former secretary to the government of the federation, who endorsed Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP.
Yakubu Dogara, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, and his faction claimed that Northern APC members never decided to support Obi.
The organisation stated that Lawal made the choice to support Obi.
Lawal said a few days earlier that the panel had chosen the LP presidential candidate after extensive deliberation.
They promised not to support the APC, due to its Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket,
They bemoaned the fact that the APC should have chosen a Northern Christian as its vice presidential candidate rather than a Muslim.
Dogara, Simon Achuba, Albert Atiwurcha, Prof. Doknan Sheni, Mela Nunge (SAN), Gen. Ishaya Bauka (rtd), Prof. Ibrahim Haruna, and Mrs. Leah Olusiyi all signed a statement collectively rejecting the endorsement.
They claimed that the organisation has not yet revealed whoever it would support in 2023.
“We want to draw the attention of the general public to the recent position canvassed by our Chairman, B.D Lawal as the position of our group.
“We wish to state that necessary consultations have been concluded, and based on manifestly unassailable empirical data, the group is poised to adopt a position which will be made known to the public at an interfaith event to be held very soon.
“Suffice to say that no one in the group, including the chairman, has been mandated to speak to the public about our position at this material time. Based on our modus operandi, our position was meant to be presented to the general public at the event referred to above. That has not changed,” the group said.
