BY PETER DURU

MAKURDI —The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, CNPP, in Benue State, has declared its support for Gen.Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) as the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, in forthcoming 2015 presidential elections, saying that he remains the genuine face of opposition politics in the country.

State Chairman of the CNPP, Mr. Baba Agan who spoke in an interview with Vanguard in Makurdi, the state capital, said, “Buhari candidature will certainly galvanise mass followership across the country.

“We have all been following the political trends since the advent of the present democratic dispensation in this country and no one in the opposition block can deny the fact that Buhari is the candidate to beat in any election in this country because he represents the face of the opposition.”

Agan who further noted that the task of wrestling power from the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, would be herculean said, “if the opposition truly wants to assume leadership of the country in 2015, we have no choice but to seek for a detribalized and disciplined Nigerian who has garnered so much experience like Gen. Buhari.

“That is the more reason why I urge all those angling for the presidential ticket of the APC to jettison the idea for now and throw their weight behind Buhari’s candidature in the collective interest of all Nigerians.”

On the open letter written by elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Agan said, “in as much as I have no qualms with people writing letters to perceived friends or enemies, I strongly believe that the letter by Chief Clark was absolutely unnecessary.

“Chief Clark might have his genuine reason for the piece but the truth is that the impression some of them are creating in the minds of Nigerians is that the presidency of the country as at now is an Ijaw business.

“That is certainly not a good omen for our unity and the oneness of this country. It is undoubtedly a dangerous dimension that must be checked before we lose conscious of the fact that an elected president is the symbol of the country’s unity.

“We never had it this way during the Obasanjo and Yar’Adua’s administrations. The president of Nigeria should not be reduced to a clannish leader. Moreover, President Jonathan had taken time to reply Obasanjo; it should end at that.  Those loitering around the corridors of power for self aggrandizement should please save us these pains,” Agan warned.