Dogara, Achuba, Others Disown Babachir over Endorsement of Obi

A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, as well as other members of a northern Christian group, which has persistently kicked against a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, yesterday disowned an ex-Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, over his endorsement of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi.

In a statement jointly signed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and seven others, titled : “Dogara, Babachir Lawal-led Northern APC Members Dump Tinubu, Declare Support For Peter Obi,” the group stressed that no such decision had been taken.

Other signatories to the statement were: Simon Achuba, Albert Atiwurcha, Prof Doknan Sheni, Mela Nunge (SAN), Gen. Ishaya Bauka (rtd), Prof Ibrahim Haruna and Mrs Leah Olusiyi.

“We want to draw the attention of the general public to the recent position canvassed by our Chairman, 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 which will be made known to the public at an interfaith event to be held very soon.

"Suffice 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,” the group stated.

Consequently, it explained that the decision to endorse a particular candidate and the statement credited to Babachir were solely his (Babachir's), pointing out that although he is absolutely entitled to it, it wasn’t the view of the group as a whole.

“We hope this statement clears all the queries most of us have been inundated with on this all important subject matter,” the statement concluded.