The Former Governor of Zamfara State, Sani Yerima has joined the 2023 presidential race saying he understands Nigeria’s problems and if given the opportunity, will ensure he improves on the achievements recorded by the Muhammadu Buhari led administration.
Yerima, who is a serving Senator, made the declaration in Abuja on Friday, May 6, 2022 after paying a visit to President Buhari, to inform him of his intention to run for the office of the President of Nigeria.
“I am here to inform the President of my intention to participate in the 2023 election and to contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I am very happy with the reception and the advice he gave me. As a loyal party member, I informed the President that I am ready at all times to accept the wishes and decisions of my party, the All Progressives Congress (APC),” he said.
Senator Yerima said he will leverage on his experience as a former Governor and a serving Senator to turn around the fortunes of Nigeria.
“I believe that having served as the Governor of Zamfara State for eight years and having served in the Senate for 12 years, I have been able to understand properly the problems of this country although problems are dynamic, and change from time to time.
“When the President was elected in 2015, he declared that he was going to address the three major problems of the country then; corruption, insecurity and revamping the economy. Most Nigerians can now see that he has done his best.
“Today our challenges have taken a new dimension, leading to armed banditry and kidnapping among others, Boko haram is gone. Poverty is another challenge we are facing because of the global economic meltdown,” the Presidential hopeful stated.
More Police
On how he intends to address the problem of insecurity if elected, the former Governor said he will recruit more personnel into the military and police.
He said: “On the issue of security, President Buhari has addressed the issue of Boko haram and the new trend of banditry and kidnapping, if you look at Ethiopia today, they have a population of just a little over 50 million and they have more than one million policemen.
“Nigeria today, we are more than 250 million people but I don’t think we have up to one million policemen all we need to do is to, first of all, recruit more police and military officer, give them adequate training and equipment; the President has already started buying the aircraft they need and by the time you take care of their welfare, I am sure this issue will be resolved.”
Eligibility
According to him, every Nigerian is qualified to contest for any elective office but many are ignorant of that constitutional provision, adding that he intends to continue the fight against insecurity as well as ignorance and poverty if elected as President.
“There is still a lot of ignorance in our society so I have three points as well, to fight insecurity, poverty and ignorance. Some think that when you talk about ignorance, you are only talking about western education no. There are people who are Professors, who are very educated but are ignorant of what is happening in their society.
“That is why you see people talking about rotational presidency as if it is an allocation of power, the constitution of Nigeria is very clear on that. Every Nigerian is qualified to contest so long as he reaches the age prescribed for different offices. So every Nigerian is qualified so long as he follows the constitutional provisions to contest or aspire for any office in this country,” he added.
PIAK