[size=14pt]I will not step down for anybody, says Shekarau[/size]
By Festus Owete
March 15, 2011 05:53AM

The presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in the April election, Ibrahim Shekarau, says he will not step down for anybody because he is the most credible and acceptable candidate in the race. He spoke against the backdrop of reports that he might step down for an unnamed presidential candidate of northern extraction.

Mr. Shekarau is currently the governor of Kano State and will finish his second term in May this year.

Insisting that he will pursue his ambition of ruling the country to the end, the ANPP candidate who spoke through his media aide, Yau Sule Yau, while receiving the 72 ANPP leaders from the Niger Delta who endorsed his ambition in Abuja yesterday, said it was unreasonable to withdraw from the race because he has the answer to the nation’s problems.

He argued that it was the other candidates that should step down for him, adding that he is most credible and acceptable candidate from the north. The governor added that the northern leaders would not allow him to quit the race for another candidate. Mr. Shekarau traced the source of the rumour of his planned withdrawal from the race to his response to a question during a television interview. He explained that some people merely misinterpreted response that he would be willing to step down if asked by the Northern Leaders Caucus to do so.

According to him, the North has already accepted his candidacy, not only because he is fresh but also because he bears no grudge with anyone and has no score to settle with Nigerians. He stated that Nigerians are beginning to see the right candidate in him just as he described himself as the only person that has the capacity to move the country forward.

“Nigerians are beginning to identify the right candidate, not a party,” he said.

“Nigerians are beginning to identify the right candidate that will lead this country. I believe this is what is going to happen in the forthcoming election. Nigerians are tired; Nigerians are yearning for change and the only person that can bring that change is Malam Shekarau.”

Also speaking at the forum, the leadership of the Shekarau Solidarity Movement (SSM) said it endorsed the ANPP candidate in the interest of the country. Kingsley Okafor who leads the group, said Mr. Shekarau would bring his achievement as Kano State governor to bear in the entire country. He stated that he is championing Mr. Shekarau’s election because he (Shekarau) is a good and marketable product and has the capacity to transform the country.

“I have seen the man Nigerians can rely on to get to the next level. I have seen the man that has broken the jinx of underdevelopment in Kano,” Mr. Okafor said.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5683282-146/i_will_not_step_down_for.csp

How come some other paper announced he would?

How many roads has that man built in Kano state? Is that not how they told us Yar Adua was doing well in his state?

Beaf:

How come some other paper announced he would?

I wonder oooh!.

so he says one thing in kaduna at a debate for Northern Presidential candidates, then a few days later his media aide says another thing to representatives to people from the ND.

loving the politics being played here. straight from the playbook of Machiavelli. only a few people know whats going on here and i bet you GEJ isn't one of them.