Some presidential hopefuls in the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are closing ranks to choose a possible standard candidate for their party in the forthcoming general elections.
Former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, who spoke on behalf of Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State and Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, revealed that they have agreed to work together to produce a consensus candidate.
He made the disclosure on Sunday in Bauchi while briefing reporters after the trio held discussions which lasted over two hours behind closed doors.
“With 2023 ahead of us, in trying to rescue the country, the unity of the country, the stability of the country, and the growth of the country are more important than individual ambitions,” Saraki stated. “We also met to strive for the need for us to work together.
“We believe that the three of us are working together harmoniously, committed and with a lot of energy, there will be great hope for this country going ahead. We appreciate that the three of us have shown aspiration to lead this country, but we’ve also come to realise that we are all capable, competent, and fit to lead this country.
“At the end of the day, it is only one person that will lead this country in 2023; and we also resolved that we are going to work closely to ensure that we come out with a way that consensus arrangement would come among the three of us on how to go forward into leading this country.”
The trio met in Bauchi State on March 20, 2022.
The meeting of the three presidential aspirants comes two months ahead of the PDP’s national convention scheduled for May 28 to elect a candidate.
While more PDP members have shown interest in the highest office of the land, there have been clamours for a Southern candidate by party leaders from the region.
In his briefing, Saraki explained that it was important for aspirants to look beyond personal ambition to ensure the country was in good hands. According to him, the PDP is the only party that can lead Nigeria aright as the All Progressives Congress (APC) is struggling to put its house in order.
“We believe our role is to make things easier for us to have stability,” he said. “If there is stability in the PDP, there will be stability in Nigeria. You will all see that APC is no longer a party.
“It (the APC) is having challenges of administering its party, and anybody that cannot administer the party cannot administer the country. So, the only option left for Nigerians is PDP and we believe that because of that level of responsibility, we must bury our personal ambitions.”