Amid reports that he may be joining the race for the 2023 presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, says his ambition remains in the realm of speculation, noting that the way to go would be determined by God.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents on Monday after joining other residents of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT on Sallah homage to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Lawan said there was need to stabilise the country first to enable those with political interests to press ahead with their ambitions.
According to him, the government has been trying to put the country in shape through the full implementation of the budget as he observed that when the economy and country are stabilised, people would have a place to contest elections.
He, therefore, called on citizens to shun partisianship and work towards making the country better organised.
While noting that the country would have been in a better condition by now but for two recessions and the Covid-19 pandemic, Lawan said “Today, we are happy to say that we’re still making progress, but would have done far better if we hadn’t had the Covid interruption.
“So, I believe that as a nation, we are moving in the right direction and President Muhammadu Buhari is giving us the leadership that we need and all that we need to do is to continue to support our leaders, continue to support our government and it’s in the best interest of everyone.
“Let no politics, let no partisanship, let no sentiments derail any of our programmes and projects because you need to have a Nigeria first if you are running to take over government at whatever level. You need to have a country, you need to have a stable country, you need to have a peaceful country in first place and if you do that, you can contest, for example. But as individuals, we have a date with history.
“How much do we give to our nation? How much do we sacrifice for the sake of others in our communities and in our country? That determines a lot how far we can go because if we decide to be selfish, then I’m sorry, we may not make that kind of progress that we believe can take us to the Eldorado.”
Addressing the question on his speculated presidential ambition, he said: “I thought you were going to ask me about what we want to do in 2022. We passed the budget for 2022, a budget for consolidation of what we have been able to achieve in 2020, when we had an implementation of 100%.
“2021 has just finished, another 100% implementation of budget and we’re looking forward to ensure that the 2022 budget is also implemented by 100%.
“If we stabilise our economy, we stabilise our country, then people can contest, but for now everything is speculative and I believe that God, in His infinite mercy, will show us the way”.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
