Lawan refuses to confirm or deny reports on 2023 presidential bid

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, on Monday refused to confirm or deny the reports on his plan to join the 2023 presidential race.

Reports emerged at the weekend that Lawan would soon make public his intention to vie for the presidency next year.

The Senate President, who addressed State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said his decision on whether to vie for the presidency or not lies in the hands of God.

He said: “I thought you were going to ask me about what we want to do in 2022. We passed the budget for 2022, a budget for consolidation of what we have been able to achieve in 2020, when we had an implementation of 100 percent.

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“The year 2021 has just finished — another 100 percent implementation of budget — and we’re looking forward to ensuring that the 2022 budget is also implemented by 100 percent.

“If we stabilise our economy, we stabilise our country, then people can contest. But for now, everything is speculative and I believe that God, in His infinite mercy, will show us the way.

“Today, we are happy to say that we are still making progress, but would have done far better if we hadn’t had the COVID-19 interruption.

“So, I believe that as a nation, we are moving in the right direction and President Muhammadu Buhari is giving us the leadership that we need and all that we need to do is to continue to support our leaders, continue to support our government and it’s in the best interest of everyone.

“Let no politics, let no partisanship, let no sentiments derail any of our programmes and projects because you need to have a Nigeria first if you are running to take over government at whatever level.”

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