Ahmad Lawan
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan will be joining the race for Presidency and is expected to pick the Expression of Interest and Nomination forms on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, this week.
A source told Vanguard that the Senate president had earlier slated Tuesday for collection of the forms and declare officially but shifted it to this week because of the public holidays declared by the Federal Government.
Vanguard gathered that Lawan decided to join the presidential race, following pressure from his zone, the North East geo-political zone in particular, as well as senators and very strong persons from the North.
According to the source, Lawan, who hails from Yobe State, was dragged in because he is a younger person from the North that the APC should produce in case the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, gives the ticket to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who is also from the North East.
The source also said there had been series of meetings at Asokoro, Maitama, Wuse 2 and even during the Umrah when some powerful senators and politicians went for Lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia to brainstorm on the issue of Lawan.
It was equally gathered that Lawan was drafted into the race since the North-East has never produced a president except the North-West.
According to the calculation by those behind Lawan, the North-West has produced late President Shehu Shagari from Sokoto State where a presidential aspirant, Governor Aminu Tambuwal, hails from.
The zone has produced late President Umaru Yar’Adua and the incumbent, President Muhammadu Buhari, both from Katsina State, while Namadi Sambo from Kaduna State was a vice president.
