2023 Presidential Election: ‘I Don’t Regret Supporting A Northerner’ – Ex-APC National, Adamu

A former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adamu in a recent interview revealed that he does not regret supporting a northern during the presidential primary of the ruling party.

Recall that Adamu had suggested the former Senate President, Ahmed Lawan as the consensus presidential candidate of the party.

Adamu’s stand, however, was rejected by some governors and individuals in the party who preferred Bola Tinubu as the presidential candidate of the party.

The ex-national chairman of the APC in an interview with Trust TV said he has never hidden his move to support a northerner in the 2023 presidential election.

He said, “From my consultations, and from the advice I was getting, I am a northerner and I would go for a northerner; and no apologies for that. I have never hidden this.”

Speaking on his support for Lawan during the presidential primary of the APC, Adamu said, “The party chairman has a role, but with a ruling party, I could not take it on myself to float Ahmed Lawan’s name.”

When asked why everyone linked him to the nomination of Lawan, the former governor said, “Well, of course, I take responsibility as party chairman, but nobody with maturity in politics and governance will say that Abdullahi Adamu, as the chairman of the party, would just get up and say this is my presidential candidate. It doesn’t add up.”

Adamu speaking on the resistance of Governors in the party said, “Of course, there were processes. I don’t want to go back on that. What I detested about this whole setting was that people who wanted to win favours with President Ahmed Bola Tinubu continued saying there was a cold war between me and him and making so much capital out of it.

“I am an established person from my roots, right from birth. I come from a royal family and I am proud of it. I was born at a time when there was a northern Nigeria. I was brought into its values even though I worked mainly in the private sector. I saw myself first and foremost as a northerner in Nigeria and I have no apologies to anybody on this.

“But times are changing, if you want to take a count of people with the same feeling, attitude, commitment and loyalty to the North, you would have a problem.

“But go down South, especially the South West, and you would see that people are not ashamed of beating their chests and telling you who they are and where they come from and what they stand for. Go to the East, till today, we are losing lives in the East for what they believe in, not here.”

Adamu expressed disappointment that some northerners backed out of the agenda to push a candidate from the region, he said, “I believe very strongly that they should have done better than they did, but I have no regret. The reason I have no regret is that only what God wills will happen.

“God has made Bola Ahmed Tinubu the president of this country. The moment he won in the convention, I led the National Working Committee to his residence to congratulate him and to give him assurance that we would stand head and shoulders with him to work for the success of the party; and we did.

“No matter what anybody will say about my relationship with Tinubu, the fact remains that it was under my leadership that the APC won the election. I like Tinubu for one thing. When I last saw him after my resignation, he referred to himself as “this bouncing baby boy delivered by you.” And he made my day.”