Prominent members of the aggrieved Northern All Progressives Congress (APC) Christians have denied media reports that the group has endorsed the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed.
Naija News reported the leader of the group and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, had in a statement on Thursday, said the group decided to support Obi and his running mate after a painstaking review and analysis of the alternative tickets.
According to the statement, the group described the APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket as satanic and urged Nigerians not to vote for the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu.
It also distanced itself from the claim that it has endorsed the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.
But, eight members of the group have distanced themselves from Babachir’s position, saying it was his personal opinion and does not represent the stance of the group.
The eight members, which include a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, and a former Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Simon Acbuba, stated this in a statement jointly signed on Thursday night.
Others who signed the statement included Hon. Albert Atiwurcha, Prof Doknan Sheni, Mela A. Nunge, SAN, Gen Ishaya Bauka (rtd), Prof Ibrahim Haruna, and Mrs Leah Olusiyi.
The statement is titled, ‘RE: Dogara, Babachir Lawal-led Northern APC Members Dump Tinubu, Declare Support For Peter Obi’.
They added that no one among the members of the group including Babachir has been mandated to speak to the public about their position on their preferred presidential candidate.
The statement reads: “We want to draw the attention of the general public to the recent position canvassed by our Chairman, Engr B D Lawal as the position of our Group. We wish to state that necessary consultations have been concluded, and based on manifestly unassailable empirical data, the group is poised to adopt a position that will be made known to the public at an interfaith event to be held very soon.
“Suffices to say that no one in the group including the Chairman has been mandated to speak to the public about our position at this material time. Based on our modus Operandi, our position was meant to be presented to the general public at the event above referred to. That has not changed.
“Consequently, the decision to endorse a particular candidate and the statement credited to the chairman are solely the decision and views of the Chairman which he is absolutely entitled to but not that of the group. We hope this statement clears all the queries most of us have been inundated with on this all-important subject matter.”
This article was originally published on Naija News
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