Buhari’s former aide says North won’t cede presidency to South through intimidation, blackmail

A former member of the House of Representatives and former aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, Hon Kawu Sumaila on Monday declared that the North would not cede the position of the president through intimidation, blackmail and coercion.

This was contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja while reacting to an interview granted by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige, who said that any political party that fields a Northern candidate in the 2023 presidential election would lose the poll.

While reacting, Hon Sumaila, a three-time member of the House of Representatives, said that Ngige and his likes should not try to intimidate and blackmail the North on the issue of the 2023 presidency.

He declared that the North would only cede power to the Southern part of the country through negotiations, dialogue, consensus and understanding and not ranting in the media.

The former two-term Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives said that politics anywhere in the world was a game of numbers, as such, either the North or South could use its numbers to decide who the next president would be.

Kawu claimed that during the 2015 and 2019 presidential elections, Ngige and his geopolitical zone did not contribute anything to the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

According to him, “I think the likes of Ngige should be placed where they belong. You cannot come and try to intimidate the North in the media. Politics everywhere in the world is a game of numbers, and those that have the numbers can decide who leads them.

“I want to say without fear of contradiction that the North will no succumb to intimidation or blackmail of the likes of Ngige. The North can only cede power through peaceful negotiations and dialogue. Open confrontation will not give the South Presidency.

“Maybe one should refresh Ngige’s memory. We were all in this country when Goodluck Jonathan contested and won the presidential election in 2011 even when it was the turn of the North to complete the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s tenure. Did the world come to an end then? Certainly not!

“So, nobody should try to bamboozle us today just because of the 2023 presidency. If the North wants to contest, I don’t think anybody can stop it through intimidation. Let this sink in the minds of Ngige and his co-travellers.

“I also want to make it clear that I have a lot of respect for Ngige. I worked closely with him during the formation of APC. But I felt it was important to make things clear on the issue of the 2023 presidency.”

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