By Agabus Pwanagba, Jos
Some leaders and members of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Plateau State and states in the North Central zone of the country have ask Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the APC National leader and presidential aspirant for the 2023 election to apologise to Nigerians over his comments years back that he does believe in one Nigeria.
The leaders/members who have formed a forum to pursue emergence of the President from North Central region said even though he made the comment many years ago, but is now its being recalled by Nigerians since he declared his intention to run for the Presidency of the country come 2023.
Speaking to journalists in Jos the Plateau State Capital on behalf of the Forum, Saleh Mandung Zazzaga said that if Tinubu does not appologise to Nigerians, it will put his candidature and APC in a bad light.
Zazzaga said, “In Thisday publication of April 13th, 1997, Tinubu granted an interview in which he was quoted as saying, ‘I don’t believe in one Nigeria’. And since that interview has resurfaced since his presidential ambition declaration, people began to raise eyebrow and asking damaging questions.
According to him, “So many people have been calling and mocking us, saying that if he does not believe in One Nigeria, how comes he has not believe in one Nigeria to the extend that he wants to contest for the Presidency of a nation he did not believe in.
“This has not only been agitating the peoples mind, but the members of the APC as well and it is not good for the well being of the party as the nation counts down to the 2023 general election as a national leader of the party, he just has to speak to Nigerians on that issue.
“Therefore, the most honourable thing for Tinubu to do is come out and appologised to Nigerians on the comments which he made before this democratic dispensation which began in 1999, and he should as well explained the rationale of the interview to Nigerians and point out if he was misquoted or not”, he maintained.
“Whatever his explanation would be, at least it will calm down peoples nerves and save the party from being projected in a bad light.
“And that will not only project him as a true leader of the party or as a presidential aspirant, but it will proved that he is a man of honour and dignity and someone who will take responsibility for his words, deeds and actions.
He urged Nigerians to believe in the APC as a party of Progressives that have the capacity to move the nation forward, irrespective of the current challenges which nation will soon overcome.
Meantime, Zazzaga stressed that their quest as a Forum is to see that the 2023 presidency comes to the North-Central, because since the return of democratic structures in 1999, the region has not produce the President or Vice President, but has tremendously contributed to the democratic growth of the nation.
