The All Progressives Congress, APC, national chairmanship aspiration of Senator Mohammed Sani-Musa received a boost following an endorsement by Governor Abubakar Sani-Bello ahead of the February 26 national conventional of the ruling party.
The governor announced his support for Mr Sani-Musa when he hosted the state caucus of the National Assembly led by the Senate Deputy Chief Whip, Sabi Abdullah, who came to formally present the national chairmanship candidate to him.
Elated by the show of solidarity among members of the National Assembly from the state towards the actualisation Mr Sani-Musa’s aspiration, the governor described the support of the lawmakers as the right thing to do.
He said: “From north-central, preferably, I want someone from Niger state. Home is home. I wish my brother success and luck. I will do whatever I can within my limited power and resources to see that he gets what he wants.
“I appeal to everyone to support my friend (Sani Musa) because he is a Senator and I believe he will give the party a good direction. We will do whatever we have to do to see that we succeed in what we want.”
The governor also stressed the need to reach out to party leaders and members across the board, especially, President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the national leader of the party, noting that he will require not only the support of the state but all stakeholders.
He explained that the election of a national chairman “is not a decision for Niger state alone, it is National Chairman, not Niger state Chairman.
“We have a national leader who is the President. He is to be consulted before we make a decision. I feel we will consult him and see what he has to say. We will put you in prayer and I wish you the best.”
While presenting the chairmanship hopeful, Mr Sabi said they were at the governor’s office to seek his solidary towards actualizing Mr Sani-Musa’s ambition at the forthcoming national convention of the party.
He said: “One of us, Sen. Sani Musa is vying for the position of the national championship of our party. We felt the time has come for us to come back home, meet our party, seek an audience with you (Governor) as leader of the state to present his aspiration and seek your support, counsel and everything for him to succeed.
“We are here to appeal that you own this process and project. The state needs to own this aspiration because he is not going it for himself, he is doing it for the state. Seek your blessings, support and wise counsel.
“We want to see a party that is organized and focused. We are here to say Sani Musa is vying for the office and we are here to seek your blessing and take the project like your project.”
Earlier, Mr Sani-Musa said his decision to seek to lead the party was based on the need to give the party a new lease of direction and build a party that will groom and develop leaders at all levels of the party for the growth of the country’s democracy.
“My reason for going for the national Chairmanship is not far-fetched. I want to provide a leadership that will be able to work with the manifesto of the party and to be able to show Nigerians that we are capable of doing this democracy. We can demonstrate a kind of energy that we can do as well as the USA do.
“If you look at Africa today, Nigeria is the largest democracy and we must be the shining example of others. APC today is the largest political party in Africa and we must have coherent leadership, leadership that is has cohesion, that will give Nigerians the best quality of governance,” he added.
The chairmanship hopeful said he was not disturbed by the array of contestants.
He maintained that, “the antecedent and experience of every one of us will be tapped and the delegates will see who is worth what.”
All the members of the National Assembly from the state were in attendance both at the state party secretariat and the Government House.
