Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, a former two-term governor of Borno, and a frontline national chairmanship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has withdrawn from the race.

Mr Sheriff, who spoke at a news conference on Sunday in Abuja, said his decision to withdraw was to respect the party and President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to zone the position to the North-Central.

“The party has taken a position that the position of its national chairman should go to the North-Central, meaning it is exclusively zoned to contestants of the zone.

“The President is the leader of the party and he has taken a position. I have always told you that I will contest if the position is zoned to my zone,” he said.

Mr Sheriff added that he decided to withdraw from the race as a party man who respected the rule of law and the party’s leaders.

“I respect the president as a person and as a president, he is my leader, therefore, I do not want to oppose him in any way or form,” Mr Sheriff said.

Mr Sheriff, while saying that he would abide by the party’s decision to zone its chairmanship position to the North-Central exclusively, added that this was, however, not a final decision.

He stated that he may still contest if the party rescinds its decision before Friday and throws the race open for all.

“But if the party changes its mind between today and Friday and says everybody can contest, within 12 hours, one can fill a form,” he said.

The APC National Convention had been slated for March 26 to elect new national executives to manage the party’s affairs.

So far, seven aspirants have bought the APC Expression of Interest and Nomination forms at N20 million to contest its national chairmanship position.

(NAN)