The Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, has warned that Nigeria is on the brink of collapse and needs a collective effort to save it from “sinking completely.”
Mr Tambuwal was speaking Sunday evening in Sokoto when he received an expression of intention and nomination forms to contest for president in 2023 under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The forms, according to Mr Tambuwal, were secured for him by a group, Concerned Citizens of Nigeria.
In a statement by his spokesperson, Muhammad Bello, Mr Tambuwal said he and others left the All Progressives Congress (APC) due to the level of failure in government.
Lamenting the devaluation of the naira, insecurity, corruption economic downturns, unemployment; inflation and every aspect of life that are failing, the governor said his seeking the presidency is not an overbearing ambition, but a quest informed by the need to rescue the country from its quagmire.
“As our situation is in Nigeria today and in times like this, when the situation is so dire and the country is in distress, members of that community or country must come together and put whatever differences they have aside to save the country.
“It calls for every concerted effort from every and all concerned citizen to put their hands together to rescue it from an imminent collapse,” he said.
Mr Tambuwal, who also contested in the PDP presidential primaries that produced Atiku Abubakar in 2019, said the party must wrest power from the APC because “It would be too bad for Nigeria if APC remains in charge of affairs after 2023.
“Things are rather getting bad and worse. That situation that demanded us to rise to that challenge of working towards changing the defective APC government at the centre has not changed. Things are rather getting worse and bad,” he said.
Noting that seeking the presidency is a “collective thing”, he said “no single individual can do it alone. No zone can do it alone. No state can do it alone. No tribe can do it alone. No members of a particular faith can do it alone.”
He expressed gratitude to the group who presented him with the forms they brought and assured them that he will make his stand known after he concludes his ongoing consultation on the matter.
In his remarks, Mr Akinboro (SAN) said they purchased the form for the governor in recognition of his sterling and the need to rescue the country from its current bad situation.
Describing the governor as young, active agile, and detribalised Nigerian with no zealous attachment to his faith, Mr Akinboro added that he is a person with integrity who can be trusted to lead the country forward.
