I Won’t Step Down for Anyone, Says Nasarawa APC Guber Aspirant
Nasarawa State gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hassan Liman, has declared that he will not step down for anyone ahead of the party’s governorship primary election slated for Thursday. “The question of stepping down does not arise. I’m not stepping down for anyone. No one has approached me to […]
Nasarawa State gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hassan Liman, has declared that he will not step down for anyone ahead of the party’s governorship primary election slated for Thursday.
“The question of stepping down does not arise. I’m not stepping down for anyone. No one has approached me to step down, and I’m not going to step down because that issue is not even on the table,” Liman said during an interview with journalists at the APC State Secretariat in Lafia.
Liman was speaking after a mega rally and visit to the party secretariat.
He dismissed suggestions of a division in the APC over Governor Abdullahi Sule’s public endorsement of another aspirant.
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Liman said the governor had a constitutional right to state his preference, but that did not cancel the planned primary election.
“Our party, the APC, is one party and it is intact. There is no division in the party. The Executive Governor of Nasarawa State has a constitutional right to say who he preferred, but that does not mean there will be no primary election,” he said.
Liman pointed to the 2018 primary, when Governor Tanko Al-Makura backed Abdullahi Sule and multiple aspirants still contested.
“In 2018, Governor Al-Makura expressed his interest in A.A. Sule. I was one of the contestants at that time, and A.A. Sule won the election,” he said.
“So as a party, each and every one of us has the right to contest the election, and that is exactly what we are doing.”
Responding to questions about the entry of former Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu Abubakar into the race, Liman said all seven aspirants who purchased forms had an equal constitutional right to contest.
“The former IGP is a Nigerian. He has a fundamental right, constitutional right to buy for this position. I, Hassan Liman, SAN, has a constitutional right, and all the other six aspirants seven of us purchased forms, we all have the right,” he said.
Liman argued that the number of aspirants did not amount to vote-splitting. He noted that 11 aspirants contested in 2018, compared to seven this year.
“The issue of dividing vote or something like that does not arise. We are exercising our constitutional right to contest for this primary election,” he said.
Liman said Governor Sule had repeatedly stated that all aspirants who purchased forms had the right to contest, and he expressed confidence that the governor would not ask anyone to step down.
Governor Abdullahi Sule had in April declared Senator Ahmed Aliyu Wadada, the current senator representing Nasarawa West senatorial district, his preferred choice for the 2027 governorship election.
The development, however, raised dust within the APC in the state as other aspirants alleged bias and undue interference by the governor, opting for direct primaries.
But in a statewide broadcast delivered in Lafia on Friday, Sule said he has the constitutional and democratic rights to support and endorse an aspirant he believes has the capability required to deliver.
He, however, noted that the APC would field its candidates through direct primary elections in line with the party’s constitution and democratic principles.