Kogi: Group tackles APC chieftain over comment on presidential ambition

A socio-political group, North Central Union for Credible Leadership (NCUCL) has come down hard on a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Alex Kadiri, for urging the zone to forget its quest for the nation’s presidency.

A statement made available to Blueprint in Abuja, Tuesday, signed by NCUCL’s chairman, Ganiyu Ene Salau while reacting to the call by the ex-lawmaker who represented Kogi East from 1999 to 2003 in the Senate, described it as shamefully defeatist and self-serving.

The group said Kadiri’s comments that the North Central should concentrate on securing the national chairmanship of the APC, instead of dissipating energy in seeking for the presidency in 2023, is his unconsidered opinion, which does not in any way reflect the thinking of the zone.

The group warned what it called “spent politicians,” who are desperate for relevance and favours from the South, to note that the North Central has come of age and that time has come for the zone’s patience to be rewarded.

The statement reads in part: “It is unfortunate, unstatesmanlike, discourteous and retrogressive for Kadiri, a rejected North- Central politician, to demean the entire zone by saying there is nobody of substance who has the capacity to be President from the zone. Politicians like Kadiri, who have lost grip of even their immediate constituencies, should not assume the responsibility of speaking for the interest of a whole zone.

“Without saying it, Kadiri has indeed lost the capacity to lead even his remote ward, which he thinks is the general reflection on the North Central. For the avoidance of doubt, the North Central has thousands of competent, eligible and capable materials for the presidency and the zone shall not settle for less.”