I thought I was a better candidate, but was denied, Dogara laments

Hours into the convention, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, pulled out of the race for the national deputy chairman (North).

In a letter addressed to the caretaker committee chairman, Mai Mala Buni, the former Speaker wrote in part, “It was thought that my emergence will no doubt strengthen the party’s position especially in Bauchi State in the North-East where the party couldn’t hold on to two states after just four years and indeed across all the states because of the extensive network and reach to serving and former members of the national assembly.

“But it turns out that our respected party leaders had better ideas. Consequently, they micro-zoned the position to Borno State whose stakeholders under the leadership of our amiable revolutionary leader,  H.E Babagana Zulum and Sen Kashim Shetima, have endorsed a brother and long-standing supporter/ally, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, for the position.”

Meanwhile, the Lagos State chapter of the APC said it settled for 36-year-old Dayo Israel and a former Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Lateef Ibirogba, as National Youth Leader and South-West Zonal Organising Secretary respectively at a dinner with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Punch