The Middle Belt Forum (MBF) yesterday launched a strong attack on President Muhammadu Buhari, accusing him of plotting to impose a candidate on the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 presidential election against the wishes of APC governors and other Nigerians.
The forum also backed the call by elder statesman Edwin Clark for the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, to resign over issues that cropped up from Saturday’s presidential primary of the party, and his earlier promise to resign if a northerner emerges as the candidate of the party. The former Senate President had said: “If the PDP saysIshouldstepdownafter a presidential candidateemerges and happens to be from the North, Iwillbeverygladtodo sobecausewhatwewantisto takeoverthe governmentand runthegovernmentintheinterest of Nigerians. So, I will sacrifice anything to ensure that my party wins.”
TheMBF’sNationalPresident Bitrus Pogu told New Telegraph in an exclusive telephone interview that the body supported Ayu’s resignation following last week’s emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a northerner, as the presiden- tial candidate of the PDP. The group claimed Buhari has suddenly resorted to running a dictatorial administration and dictating to APC governors what he wants to be done, especially who succeeds him. Pogu, who was reacting to the President’s plea with APC governors to support him in choosing his successor, described the idea as “undemocratic”.
He said: “The idea of the President saying ‘let me choose my successor’ as he did in his choice for the APC National Chairmanship is a dictatorship. A dictator, a paramount ruler not a democratic ruler will want to say this is my position; this is my candidate, and so on. This is how our democratic system has become.
“So democracy has been thrown out and of course, the APC refused to have their convention early just to watch where the PDP will go so that they will pitch their camp appropriately.” He added: “Of course, I toe the line of Edwin Clark. Ayu has to resign. In Nigeria, people don’t have shame anyway. They will not resign even if they know that they have done things wrong. They know that we are going to work against them. So what the elder statesman said is correct; the PDP leadership has messed it up and they will pay for it. “They knew what was going on. The PDP’s constitution has zoning in it; they played games to ensure that they satisfy some northern pressure to abolish zoning. Anyrationalthinkingperson will say yes, having had eight of Buhari’s regime, whether it is in APC or PDP it is now rational for the presidency to movetotheSouth, sothePDP should have done that.”
