Naija News
By Olugbenga Ige
Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State has said he told former Vice President Atiku Abubakar not to contest the 2023 presidential race.
Naija News reports that Mohammed made the submission on Friday when a Contact and Consultation Committee he set up for his presidential ambition submitted its report to him.
The Bauchi governor said Atiku is too old and tired to lead the country, asking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain to support his ambition to become President in 2023.
The governor, however, promised to support the former vice president if he emerges the party’s flagbearer and Nigerians prefer him to other aspirants.
Mohammed said he will not give the governorship seat to hold forth, saying that he will manage the presidential campaign with the running of the state.
He, therefore, opined that all the presidential aspirants from all the sections of the country are eminently qualified, so they should be left to discuss with each other.
The governor noted that his presidential ambition has caused division in the state, stressing that Bauchi can be better if he becomes the President in 2023.
He said: “I am aware that even in Bauchi, people are divided, my elder brother, Bala Hadith, had the courage to tell me that people of Bauchi don’t want me to go to the center and I appreciate him. This is because this is the opinion of Bauchi which is the appreciation of what we are doing together. Bauchi can be better if I’m at the center.
“But certainly, we have to manage the two together (Bauchi and the Presidential campaign). I told my younger brother and my colleague (deputy governor) that he should not be happy to send me forth so that he will take over the governorship, I will do the two together.
“One of my brothers, a formidable and astute politician, Matawalle Sokoto (Aminu Tambuwal) did it before, so we are going…
