Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has shed some light as to why he is at odds with the ruling party
According to Dogara, he was asked to beg for a ticket under APC and being unable to abide by this, he made the decision not to run under APC.
According to TheCable, said this while hosting some of his supporters at his Abuja residence on Thursday.
The Speaker expressed confidence that he would be supported by his people even if he were not to contest under any party.
“Truly, I have decided that I will not contest election again. They said they would give me a ticket in the APC but that I must go and beg for it. I said I did not need the ticket. In politics, I have never gone to anybody’s house to beg for a ticket.
“My ticket is my people. I have assured them that even if I run under a zero party, my people will vote for me. So long as it is Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa Balewa (constituency), even if we run under zero party; we will win by God’s grace. We have thrived well in many political battles in the past and this one too, we shall overcome it. Nobody can threaten us or tell us that we cannot contest the election in a political party we spent our resources to establish; only God can stop us.
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“I had heard your voices and the voice of the people is the voice of God. We are in politics to serve and not to be served. As I said, if it were for myself, I will quit because truly I am tired. and even thought of stepping aside. But we must run an election so long as our people say so.
“I have seen the forms you brought. I don’t know how you got it but I must thank you for this sacrifice. Left for me; I will appeal that you give me some time to go and consult further.”
Dogara also stated that he had not explained his plans to his supporters within the APC and that he had attempted to reconcile with the leadership of the party on the condition that they pacify some federal lawmakers
“Even when they were talking about reconciliation in the APC, we told them that even if I would be given a free ticket in the APC, so long as they did not do justice to Senator Sulieman Nazif, Senator Isa Hamma Misau, Honourable Ahmed Yerima, Honourable Aminu Tukur, Honourable Maryam Bagel and others, I would not accept it. I even said that if they would do justice to these people I would be satisfied.” he said