Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
A Bauchi State aspirant to the vacant All Progressives Congress (APC) national secretary and chieftain of the party, Dr. Samaila Dahuwa, has warned that banking on the integrity of President Muhammadu Buhari will not help any aspirant in the 2023 general elections.
Dahuwa, who is seeking to replace the former national secretary and now governor of Yobe State, told newsmen at the national secretariat of the party, that for fairness and equity, Bauchi State should be given the vacant position to position the party for victory in future elections.
Expressing fears over post Buhari’s administration in the party, the aspirant for the national secretary said: “In few years now, it is going to be challenging and politically vigorous for the party; this is going to be post-Buhari’s administration and we have to understand that our opponents are working tirelessly to see how they can dislodge APC in 2023.
“It is a national assignment that anybody who loves Nigeria will have to put their heads and hands together to make sure that the era of PDP does not come back to Nigeria.
“It is important for us in APC to start thinking from now because we have to be very strategic and we believe that giving Bauchi the position of the National Secretary and to someone like me will invariably put our party back to its tracks,” he said.
Asked the reasons for expressing such fear about post-Buhari government, he said: “President Buhari has brought about serious change and stability in the country.
“So many things have changed. And we have the fear that any post-Buhari administration that is not there to consolidate on the gains must be resisted. That is number one.
“Number two, we all know that quite a number of politicians got their tickets and elections on the back, love of Nigerians and the integrity of President Buhari. It was like that in 2015 and repeated itself in some places in 2019, but in 2023 there won’t be Buhari in that capacity, so that is why I said we have to up our games because there will be nothing like riding on the back of President Buhari to win elections,” he said.
Speaking further, Dahuwa, said: “Why should we say the position should be given to Bauchi State? The actual condition that led to Yobe State producing the National Secretary of the party has been overtaken by the event.
“We all know that Bauchi is a heavyweight in the region in terms of number of vote given to APC and President Buhari.
“Unfortunately, in the last election, Bauchi State lost the governorship election to the PDP. Although it came to us as a surprise because we won 15 out of 20 local governments and we still lost the election, the election is actually being contested in court.
“However, as it stands today, Bauchi State has no elected APC government. Because of that, we are also without any officer in the leadership of National Assembly both at the Senate and House of Representatives.
“Without any member of NWC of our great party, our party is going to be put at very a serious disadvantage in the state and we believe that conceding the position of National Secretary to Bauchi State will be a good thing for the party,” he stated.