Senate Presidency: Governor El Rufai applauds Goje for stepping down for Lawan

Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El Rufai has applauded Senator Danjuma Goje for stepping down for Senator Ahmed Lawan in the race for Senate president.

He made this known shortly after a closed-door meeting he and the senators had with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House today.

Speaking, El Rufai applauded the Gone fir not only withdrawing his ambition but also endorsing Lawan for the position.

“We discussed steps to unify our leadership in the National Assembly starting with the Senate.

“I am very pleased to announce that distinguished Sen. Goje has agreed to fully endorse and support the choice of the party and that of the President within the Senate; that is Sen. Lawan.

“We are very grateful to Goje for his sacrifice, patience; this discussion has been going on for a long time and I am honoured to be part of it and I am grateful to him for recognising the many years we have worked together when he was a minister.

“I know him to be a man of impeccable integrity and a man of his word and I am very honoured that he has come to see the president and to conclude this matter once and for all,” he said.

Goje revealed that despite calls from his supporter, he decided to step down because of his loyalty to the president and for the interest of the party.

“Instead, I am supporting the party’s position thereby endorsing the candidature of Sen. Lawan.

“I am not compelled to step down; I have been winning my elections many times from local government to House of Assembly, to National Assembly to governorship and I was also a minister.

“To say that I have been threatened to support somebody, no! I am supporting Lawan based on my own conviction that I am doing the right thing for our country, for our president,” he said.