Babachir Lawal, a former secretary to the Nigerian government, has asked Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo not to expect preferential treatment on the question of who will succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
Lawal, a long-time associate of Mr Buhari, said the APC did not promise Mr Osinbajo its ticket for 2019, and no law compels the party to favour the vice-president.
“It is not in the constitution, so it is not a principle,” Mr Lawal said while rejecting the zoning formula in an interview The Sun published Saturday. “Principle of what? It is not in APC constitution, it is not in the national constitution, it is not in the Bible, I don’t know whether it is in the Koran; I don’t know. So, I don’t see how it became a principle.”
Mr Lawal said he was not opposed to southerners vying for the office, but neither should any interested northerner be disqualified as a consequence.
“Being a cosmopolitan man, I know Igbos not less than 10 that can successfully run this country.
“I know Yorubas that can do, I know Ijaws that can do, I know Hausas that can do, I know even Kilba.
“Hey myself, my friend, I can be president of this country. I consider myself quite competent to do so from a small tribe of 300,000 people,” Mr Lawal told The Sun.
Mr Lawal, a Christian from Adamawa, was the government secretary from 2015 until October 2017 when he was fired after a government investigation found him culpable of fraudulent diversion of funds earmarked for internally-displaced victims of Boko Haram.
Although he was later charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over the allegations, he has remained politically associated with the president since his dismissal.
He has also remained a member of the APC, and played official roles as a top strategist in the party’s presidential campaign.
