Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and other members of the Aggrieved Northern APC members have distanced themselves from the endorsement of the Obi-Datti presidential ticket.
The Chairman of the group and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, endorsed the Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi and his running mate Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed after painstakingly reviewing and analysing the alternative candidates.
But Dogara and other members of the group have distanced themselves from the endorsement, saying they are yet to conclude consultations and that their position will be made public.
“We want to draw the attention of the general public to the recent position canvassed by our Chairman, Engr B D Lawal as the position of our Group. We wish to state that necessary consultations have been concluded, and based on manifestly unassailable empirical data, the group is poised to adopt a position that will be made known to the public at an interfaith event to be held very soon,” the group said in a statement signed by Simon Achuba, Hon Albert Atiwurcha, Prof Doknan Sheni, Mela A. Nunge, SAN, Gen Ishaya Bauka Rtd, Prof Ibrahim Haruna and Mrs Leah Olusiyi.
“Suffices to say that no one in the group including the Chairman has been mandated to speak to the public about our position at this material time. Based on our modus Operandi, our position was meant to be presented to the general public at the event above referred to. That has not changed.
“Consequently, the decision to endorse a particular candidate and the statement credited to the chairman are solely the decision and views of the Chairman which he is absolutely entitled to but not that of the group. We hope this statement clears all the queries most of us have been inundated with on this all-important subject matter.”