2023: PDP Chieftain,Bafarawa Withdraws From Presidential Race

A former governor of Sokoto state,Attahiru Bafarawa has said he is no longer interested in becoming Nigeria’s president. It was gathered that since his leaving office as Sokoto governor in 2007, Bafarawa had aspired for the presidential ticket at least three times. Bafarawa was a presidential candidate on the platform of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) and in the 2007 presidential election he lost to the candidate of the PDP, the late Umaru Yar’adua.

The former governor also in 2010 aspired for the number one political seat on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). However, speaking recently, Bafarawa said he would never run for any political office again. Asked how he would handle insecurity if he were to be president, Bafarawa said: “Unfortunately, I am not going to be the President and I don’t want to be the President.”

Speaking on why he dropped the presidential ambition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain said: “It is a question of not having the will to do something. There was a time I was in politics; the will to do it was there. Now, I don’t have it. I feel I have done my best based on the opportunity given to me and I am grateful for what God has done for me. “Therefore, I will never go for any elective office for the rest of my life and I will never accept any appointment for the rest of my life.

But I will always give my advice whenever it is needed.” Meanwhile, the former governor also described as ingrate governors who run for senate after completing their terms in office. He said: “Why would you serve eight years as governor of a state and then you come again and take one part of the state and say you are going to the National Assembly? “After serving for eight years, why don’t you allow others to go to the National Assembly?

As a former governor, the only thing you can look forward to is the presidency. Anything less than that is an abuse of privilege. “Out of 200 million people, you are one of the few chosen to become governor, and after two terms, you come back again and say you want to go to the Senate. What are you going to the Senate to do? As a former governor, ask somebody to go and represent the people there. Then you give the person your wisdom.

“Meanwhile, Ahmadu Fintiri, the governor of Adamawa state, has said he will strongly support former vice president Atiku Abubakar if he again emerges as the presidential candidate of the PDP in 2023. Fintiri who was the chairman of the PDP national convention committee said this when he appeared as a guest of Channels TV’s Politics Today.