Former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima, says there has never been any agreement in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to zone the presidency to the South-West region in 2023, as he joins the race.

Yerima made this known in Abuja on Wednesday, December 16, 2020, at a media briefing, where he declared his interest to contest for president at the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure in 2023.

Yerima said he had on three occasions stepped down to allow Buhari to win the presidential ticket of defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) as well as the All Progressives Congress.

The former governor said he attended all meetings involving President Buhari and the National leader of the ruling party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, saying there was no meeting where it was agreed that the presidency would be zoned to the South-West region in 2023.

He said, “You see, I don’t think there is anything like agreement. You can ask Mr. President, he led the group, Asiwaju was there, I was part of it, there was no meeting I didn’t attend or any meeting that I attended that there is such agreement.

“(Such an) agreement can’t be verbal; it has to be written. In any case, any agreement that is contrary to the laws of this country is not an agreement. The constitution is very clear, the Constitution of the political parties, the Electoral Act. We are in a democracy and democracy is governed by processes and procedures and bylaws.

“I give you an example of America, George Bush (Snr) was President, George Bush (Jnr) became President. They are from the same family not from the same state, not from the same zone. This is a democracy, if Nigerians decide to vote for Yerima, so be it.”

Proffering solution to the insecurity problem in the north, Yerima said the federal government should consider negotiations with bandits because it worked in Niger Delta.