He disclosed this during plenary on Tuesday while announcing a roll call of Senators who are ambitious to contest the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has confirmed that former governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, withdrew from 2023 presidential to support him (Lawan).
He disclosed this during plenary on Tuesday while announcing a roll call of Senators who are ambitious to contest the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
In his remark, Lawan commended Kalu and described him as a statesman for withdrawing from the presidential race for him.
He also said senators who had purchased the N100 million APC presidential nomination form include Senator Ibikunle Amosun representing Ogun Central Senatorial District; Senator Robert Ajayi Boroffice, representing Ondo North Senatorial District, and himself representing Yobe North Senatorial District.
He said, “The first person to buy presidential nomination form is Senator Ibikunle Amosun; the next is the distinguished deputy Senate leader, Senator Robert Ajayi Boroffice.
“Also I got the nod and I have shown my interest to contest for the Office of the President of our great country on the platform of our great party, the APC.
“So the Senate contingent is a formidable one and by the grace of the Almighty God, the aspirants for the All Progressives Congress and maybe the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as well will make headway.
“The Chief Whip, who is also an aspirant, has stepped down to support my aspiration. So the Chief Whip of the Federation, I will thank you for what you have done for being a statesman.
“All our colleagues who are contesting for the governorship in their various states, we wish all of them the best of luck and those who want to come back to the Senate, we also wish them the best of luck.”
Lawan had on Monday claimed to have been presented with the presidential nomination form by a group operating under the aegis of “National Stability Project”, led by one Sam Nkire.
The nomination form was presented to him after an elaborate ceremony at the Senate President’s guest house in Maitama, Abuja where some Senators loyal to him were present.
SaharaReporters had reported on Monday that Kalu officially pulled out of the 2023 Presidential election.
He said on Monday that the decision to pull out of the race was informed by the fact that the ruling APC would not be zoning the presidency to any region.
According to him, if a candidate of South-East extraction was not successful in clinching the APC ticket, he would support a candidate from another part of the country.