Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule (left), presented his anointed APC governorship candidate, Senator Wadada (right) to President Bola Tinubu (middle) at the Presidential Villa Abuja.
A youth forum of ethnic nationalities has rejected the endorsement of Senator Aliyu Wadada, by Governor Abdullahi Sule, as his preferred governorship candidate, saying Wadada himself had said in several fora that he is from Sokoto State.
The forum comprising of 19 different tribes, made the declaration on Thursday during a media briefing with members of the Correspondent’s Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Lafia, the state capital.
Speaking on behalf of other youth presidents, coordinating Chairman of the group, Comrade Silas Yileni, faulted the governor for not consulting with the youths of different ethnic nationalities in the state prior to the endorsement of his preferred successor.
“It is disturbing that the governor made this significant declaration without broad consultation and carrying the ethnic nationalities along. While we appreciate the governor’s interest in the Nasarawa West Senatorial Zone, we must clarify that Zoning has never been a legitimate practice in Nasarawa State”.
According to the group, the practice was that aspirants do contest against formidable opponents from different Zones, adding that what the governor has done (Zoning) is unconstitutional and simply a matter of informal agreement, allowing the people of the area to select their preferred candidate without external imposition.
The group while demanding for fair playing ground for all contestants in the governorship race under the Platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), vowed not to support the imposition of non -Indigenous candidate on the natives for the purpose of fairness, equity and Justice.
“We will not support the imposition of non-Indigenous candidate on the natives for fairness, equity, and Justice, let it be noted that our loyalty lies first with our people, not with a political party. We demand an indigenous governorship Candidate from the APC and other political parties irrespective of religion”. It said.
The forum called on citizens of the state to refrain from making provocative and disparaging remarks to avoid unnecessary issues
