Governor Muhammad Badaru of Jigawa said he will not contest against Rotimi Amaechi in the 2023 presidential election.

Mr Badaru stated this when Mr Amaechi, the immediate past Minister of Transport, met with delegates from the state in Dutse on Wednesday.

“There will be no contest between me and Ameachi. It is either I run or he runs, but for sure, I cannot run against him,” Mr Badaru, a presidential aspirant himself who was also touted to have signed the nomination form for another aspirant Bola Tinubu, said.

No fewer than 28 aspirants including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi, Senate President Ahmed Lawan and Messrs Badaru, Amaechi and Tinubu obtained the APC presidential nomination forms to run in the 2023 elections.

Earlier, the former minister, who appealed to the APC delegates to vote for him because he is competent and a detribalised Nigerian.

Mr Amaechi added that of all the aspirants seeking the presidential seat, he is the person with both the legislative and executive experiences, saying they have made him to understand Nigeria better.

“Judge me by past records, not what people think and say I am. I have to be the president of Nigeria because of my trajectory.”

“It would not be fair for the north to abandon the south-south in its hours of need because of the long standing political relationship between the two regions,” Mr Ameachi said.

The presidential aspirant was accompanied on the visit by a former Chief of Army Staff and Nigerian Ambassador to Benin Republic, General Tukur Buratai, and a former Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, among others. 

(NAN)