Buhari, Atiku, others should forgo presidential ambitions – Kaduna APC Chairman

National leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), including General Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, should forgo their personal ambitions of contesting elections in order to widen the party’s chances of replacing the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in next year’s general elections. Kaduna state APC Chairman, Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed, made […]

National leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), including General Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, should forgo their personal ambitions of contesting elections in order to widen the party’s chances of replacing the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in next year’s general elections.

Kaduna state APC Chairman, Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed, made this known in Zaria at a public lecture organised by the Ahmadu Bello University’s Faculty of Arts, which is one of the statutory functions of departments and faculties in the university.

“If, on the other hand, the party chose to tap into its traditional sources of energy, it would deepen the existing polarisation of the nation, and would substantially narrow its chances of winning the presidential election and other key elective positions,” Baba Ahmed said.

The former INEC secretary, who spoke on ‘The Role of the Citizenry in Ensuring Free and Fair General Elections in 2015 in Nigeria and its implications for National Cohesion’, however said the next three months would reveal whether APC represented a real vehicle for change, or a mere alternative to PDP.

He said APC would severely test the electoral process in terms of its capacity to provide a level playing field as right now there are millions of citizens who believed that it was inconceivable that APC would lose the presidency to PDP in a credible contest.

Dr. Ahmed also said the vast majority of these millions would not appreciate the fact that the best chances for success for APC lie in the manner it comes to terms with its own internal challenges, and the way it manages sensitive issues such as the ambitions of its leaders.

 

“The chances of the APC in replacing the PDP will be intimately linked to the manner it allows intra-party democracy and the choices it makes in terms of who flies its flags. If APC picks General Muhammadu Buhari to contest as its candidate, it is certain that President Jonathan will run against him.