2019: Turaki declares for presidency

A former Minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu Turaki has declared his intention to contest the 2019 presidential election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The ex-Minister also announced a former ‎governor of Adamawa State, Boni Haruna as the Director General of his Campaign Organisation ‎and former Minister of Niger Delta affairs, Dr Steve Oruh as Deputy Director General, South.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday, Turaki said ‎his entry into the presidential race was to win election and rescue the nation if given the ticket by the PDP.

  

‎Turaki is to slug it out at the PDP primaries with a former governor of Jigawa State, Dr Sule Lamido; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former governor of Kano State, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau; former Senate President, David Mark; Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe State and former governor of Kaduna State, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi who are also eyeing the ticket.

Turaki is said to be anointed ‎by former President Goodluck Jonathan under who he served as minister.

  

‎The ex-Minister said that the other aspirants were not threat to his ambition, but admitted that they were all eminently qualified to defeat President Muhammadu Buhari if the latter succeeded in securing the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket.

"I went to sit down with everyone of them. We have spoken and we have understood each other. We have a serious national problem that Nigerians have come to see PDP as a saviour of this country.

"If therefore, Nigerians have said that PDP is the only vehicle that will rescue them from this situation, then we the gladiators must be able to subject our interest to the larger interest of Nigerians.

"Anybody who gets this ticket, we have the understanding, all of us will join hands and support him.We feel that we have what it takes to unify Nigerians. We need a winning team that can provide a level-playing ground and opportunities irrespective of where you come from," he said.

The former minister said he was not scared of arrest by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), explaining that immediately he left office in 2015, he was probed by the anti-graft agency but was not found guilty of any wrong-doing.