A former Governor of Kano State, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, has advised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the nomination of its 2015 Presidential candidate based on the candidate’s geo-political background.
Shekarau told State House correspondents after a close-door meeting with Vice President Namadi Sambo that the PDP should ignore the issue of rotational presidency while deciding its presidential candidate in the forthcoming elections.
‘‘I have never subscribed to the argument of localising the Presidency to any region. If you had followed my arguments and my presentations, my debates in the presidential election, I said so.
‘‘My concern is, what we do to get the right leadership regardless of where ever the leadership has come. This issue of rotational (presidency) is not the issue. What we should be talking about is balancing, balancing so that we carry people along.
‘‘If today, I am a presidential candidate from Kano and I tell you my running mate is from Katsina, won’t you think I am crazy?
“Will I have to have that written in any document, in any constitution or in any guideline for me to know that if I am from Kano and I’ m a presidential candidate, my running mate or my Vice President has to come from the other side of the country?
‘‘There is the law and constitution of common sense. So, this argument (that) it has to be my town’s man, it has to be my village man, it has to be my region, is all rubbish.’’
Shekarau pledged to support and campaign for any candidate that emerged as PDP presidential candidate in the 2015 general elections.
On his recent defection to PDP from All Progressives Congress (APC), Shekarau stated that his decision was informed by the fact some principal actors in the merger (that brought up the APC) did not mean well for the party.
He said his meeting with the Vice President was a continuation of robbing of minds. I am now part and parcel of the PDP family. I will always be meeting with one party functionary or the other to continue to rob minds on how we will move the party and the nation forward,’’ he added.