Former governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, said the declaration of support for the South-West aspirant by the northern governors of the All Progressives Congress, prompted him to step down for the presidential candidate of the party, Bola Tinubu.
Amosun and other presidential aspirants from the South including the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, and former speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, stepped down for Tinubu at the APC convention held in Abuja.
The former governor stated this on Thursday while addressing his supporters, drawn from all the local government areas of the state who converged on the Alake palace pavilion in Abeokuta for a welcome rally.
Amosun who addressed his supporters both in English and Yoruba said he was not desperate to be the party’s presidential candidate.
He said he alloted 20 per cent interest to the presidential contest while he gave the remaining 80 per cent to the general interest of the South-West and Nigeria.
According to him, when I was declaring interest for the presidential seat two years ago, I had told my supporters that I was going into the race with 20 per cent interest while I would throw my support to anyone chosen by the party.
He said, “let me tell you this, you sent me to Abuja to go and work for us, I told them when I addressed them why I wanted to be president of Nigeria.
“But my wanting to be president of Nigeria cannot supersede the interest of all of us in Nigeria, all of us in the south, all of us in the southwest.
“It got to a point that we realised that our brother governors from the North were even rooting to say they want the presidency to go to the south.
“Then, we say, if we want the presidency to come to the south, then, all of us, we must find a way to unite, we must find a way to drop all these personal ambitions for the overall interest of all of us in the entire south and particularly, the Southwest.”
On Tinubu’s emergence as APC candidate, Amosun said, “I want to be President of Nigeria but my wanting to be president of Nigeria is just 20 per cent and that 80 per cent of it is that the presidency should come to the southwest; lo and behold, almighty God has answered that prayer, ultimately, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is our flagbearer will be the President of this great nation, Nigeria.
“So, what I want you to do, all the love, all the support, all the prayer that you have been giving to me, continue but, please, extend that support and prayer to our flagbearer, support APC, let us all campaign round because this is the only country that we have.”