By Mohammed Nasir Shuaibu (Bauchi State Correspondent)
Litigating presidential candidates of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, have been urged to withdraw their petitions at the Presidential Election Tribunal against the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
This plea was made by a group in Bauchi known as the Association for Political Stability in North-East (APSAN). They viewed the LP and the PDP's petitions as a product of decade-old political "machinations by the opposition forces to truncate the course of democratic governance".
The North-East zonal zonal coordinator of the association, Haruna Garba, gave the advise in Bauchi at the weekend during their Bauchi state 2023 post- election meeting to review the pros and cons of the just concluded general elections with a view to chart a new way forward.
Haruna Garba stressed the need for the presidential election petitioners at the tribunal to jettison their complaints in the overriding national interest and for the political stability, growth and development and prosperity of the country, stating that with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led federal government, things have started on a "clean slate" in the country
He commended members of the association for the supportive roles they played that culminated in the Tinubu/Shettima successes at the elections in the Northeast zone, especially in states of Borno, Yobe and Gombe. He urged the APC not to relent in facing the on-going battle at the elections tribunal in Bauchi and Adamawa states.
The association also hailed the Northern politicians, particularly the APC governors who ensured that the former Lagos state governor, Bola Tinubu, emerged the presidential flagbearer of the party, as well as his subsequent declaration as winner of the presidential polls. He said their collective efforts and commitments should not be allowed to go in vein.
Coordinator Garba admonished the Tinubu/Shettima presidency to ensure the realization of the gas and oil find in Barambu axisof Bauchi/Gombe states, the planned oil refinery at Bauchi/Jos axis and the pipelines from Kolmani 2 Oil well to Kaduna refinery, the Kasambila dam construction, the Kaduna - Maiduguri rail line, and the Great Green Wall (GGC) transcending the Northeast boundary to the sub-saharan Africa.
Garba explained that one of the cardinal objective of APSAN is to ensure the emergence of youths, women and the physically challenged in political governance, while salvaging them from economic difficulties and unemployment that push them into social vices.
The association noted with delight that the Vice President of Nigeria, Senator Kashim Shettima, whose "credibility" is known to every Nigerian hailed from the North East zone. He urged the people in the 19 Northern states to give him all the necessary support in order to give the region a new lease.
He revealed that arrangements have almost been concluded for the zonal meeting of the association expected to evolve a strategic political framework that would facilitate the smooth and successful tenureship of the Tinubu/Shettima led administration, and even beyond for the All Progressives Congress (APC) governance in Nigeria. NNL.
