A former Governor of Zamfara State, Ahmed Yerima, has declared his intention to run for the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Yerima, who represented Zamfara West Senatorial District in the National Assembly told newsmen yesterday in Abuja that his decision to contest the election was to win and better the lives of Nigerians.
The former governor, who decried the spate of killings and poverty in the country said the situation needed to be addressed.
The former governor also said APC leaders did not reach any agreement prior to the 2015 general elections that there would be power rotation to the South at the expiration of President Buhari’s tenure in 2023.
Yerima, who argued that zoning was alien to the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act 2010 (As Amended) and the APC’s Constitution added that no one can force him out of the race on grounds of zoning.
“You see, I don’t think there is anything like agreement. You can ask Mr President, he led the group, Asiwaju was there, I was part of it. There was no meeting I didn’t attend or any meeting that I attended that there was such an agreement.
“Agreement can’t be verbal, it has to be written. In any case, any agreement that is contrary to laws of this country is not an agreement,” he said.
On why he wanted to succeed President Buhari from the same North-West geo-political zone, Yarima said: “In America, George Bush (Snr) was President, George Bush (Jnr) became President. They are from the same family not from the same state, not from the same zone. This is democracy. If Nigerians decide to vote for Yarima, so it be.”
Yerima said he has developed an app to ensure that before his official declaration, he would have had at least, 30 to 40 million supporters.