2019: House North-west Caucus Angered over Endorsement of Buhari

• Doguwa accused of misinformation

By Damilola Oyedele in Abuja

The North-west caucus in the House of Representatives has express anger following the publicised endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari for the 2019  presidential election.

The leader of the 94-member caucus and Chief Whip, Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa,  after a meeting last Wednesday had told journalists that the endorsement was a collective position.

President Buhari is from the North-west geopolitical zone.

“2019 will come and we are also going to be there; we will be able to engage it as it comes. I want to tell you that Nigerians can’t afford to miss Mr. President in 2019 as it comes,” Doguwa had said.

THISDAY however gathered that the members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are not happy with the impression that the caucus had collectively endorsed Buhari.

There are five members of the PDP in the caucus.

All of them are from Kaduna State. They are Hon. Yakubu Barde, Hon. Gideon Gwani, Hon. Simon Arabor, Hon. Shehu Garba and Hon. Sunday Marshall Kaltung.

Kaltung told THISDAY in a telephone conversation that the issue of endorsement of Buhari never happened.

“I can tell you categorically that it never featured in our discussions at the meeting, so if anyone says we endorsed anyone, it is a big lie,” he said.

A PDP member who spoke off the record, said the main issue discussed at the caucus meeting was the under-representation of the zone in the 2017 N7.3 trillion budget.

“Many of our roads are becoming death traps, and we want to see how we can strategise to attract more infrastructure to the region. We also want more attention for security,” the lawmaker said.

“It would be funny for anyone to endorse the president at this time. We must be sensitive to the mood of Nigerians. The president is being bashed in public space for the hardships Nigerians are dealing with, so to support him for 2019 would be like insulting the citizens,” he added.

Another PDP member said no member of his party can be seen as endorsing Buhari for 2019.

Also, some members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) insisted that the endorsement of the president was not discussed at the meeting which lasted for about three hours.

An APC member told THISDAY that to publicly endorse Buhari in the face of the hardships being experienced by Nigerians, would amount to “absolute bad timing.”

The member from Kaduna State, who asked not to be named, accused the Chief Whip of misrepresentation.

“He just misrepresented our position and misinformed Nigerians. Yes, we commended Mr. President for improving the security situation generally, but that was it. Intact we also discussed that while the security situation is improving in the North-east, it is getting worse in our zone. This is because the North-east has been getting all the attention,” the lawmaker said.

Another lawmaker said Doguwa simply used the statement to slight Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, the former Governor of Kano State.

“Doguwa is bringing Kano politics into our general caucus position. Kwankwaso’s interest in running for president in 2019 is visible, even if he has not publicly said so. And we all know the serious infighting in Kano APC. Doguwa just used that statement to throw a jab at his erstwhile mentor. We did not send him to make any endorsement,” the lawmaker said.

The Minority Whip, Hon. Yakubu Barde, confirmed that the caucus did not endorse Buhari for 2019 presidential poll.

“I am of the PDP, so that is not possible. PDP has its own candidate for the polls and we would soon present the candidate,” he told THISDAY in a telephone interview.