*Decry hardship, high cost of living in Nigeria

By Charly Agwam

Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State yesterday played host to his Sokoto State counterpart, Aminu Tambuwal and former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, as part of efforts to towards a consensus Presidential candidate for the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

Speaking, the former Senate President, said they were in Bauchi to consult among themselves as presidential aspirants of northern extraction in the PDP to settle for a consensus candidate who would represent the North.

He said “We are here to meet to forge the way forward. This is an initiative of the three of us. We are concerned about the hardship people of our country are going through, especially the cost of living. Our stand is that it is very clear that PDP is the only viable option today, and as such, as key stakeholders of the party, we find it necessary to sit down together to see how best we can provide leadership and direction.

“So, we discussed that for 2023 ahead of us, the unity, stability and progress of the country is more important than our individual ambitions. There is a need for us to work together. When the three of us work together in honesty and commitment, there will be great hope for this country going ahead.

“We appreciate that three of us have shown aspiration to lead this country, and we realize that we are all capable and competent to lead this country. But it is only one person that will lead this country. So, we resolved to work closely together to ensure that we come out with a consensus from among us to forge the way forward.

“Our role is to make things easier and bring stability because if there is stability in PDP, there will be stability in Nigeria. You can all see that the All Progressive Congress, APC, is no longer a party. They have problems administering their party, and anybody that cannot administer his party cannot administer the country.” 

Saraki who said Nigerians were looking at the PDP to rescue the country, noted that the three of them were ready to forgo their personal ambitions for the progress of the country, saying “The only option for Nigerians is PDP and we ready to lead. Because of the level of responsibility Nigerians have placed on us, we must bury our personal ambitions for the progress of this country.

“We know that before now some have shown aspiration and even gone ahead to acquire nomination forms that are parts of the process but what we have done today  (yesterday) supersedes that. We have also told our supporters to reduce the rhetoric because we are family.

“What is important here is Nigeria that is why we have agreed to work together. Of course, we also have a senior brother, the Warizi (Atiku Abubakar) who is not here; we will go and greet him too. We will meet and continue to work along these lines.  When we meet him and share our thoughts, we will be able to comment on what our consensus will be. “