The Coalition of 28 support groups says Dr Akinwunmi Adesina would not reject calls by millions of Nigerians to contest the 2023 presidential election.

The groups expressed their optimism after picking the expression of interest and nomination forms for the President of African Development Bank (AfDB) on Sunday.

Ademola Babatunde, who led one of the coalition’s groups, the Youth Arise Movement (YAM), said efforts were being made within and outside Nigeria to reach out to Mr Adesina to declare interest in the 2023 race.

Mr Babatunde said the coalition decided to put resources together to buy the forms because the former Nigerian minister of agriculture possesses the capacity to solve the country’s current challenges.

“It is very certain that Adesina knows very well that when he was contesting for the AfDB, President Muhammadu Buhari supported him wholeheartedly for the first and second terms.

“Such a person will not want to throw away the call of over 200 million Nigerians and also feel that he cannot defend the legacy and the goodwill of the president of Nigeria.

“It is time for him to come and reciprocate the good gesture that President Buhari has given to him by accepting this form that we have struggled to purchase,”

Mr Babatunde said.

Mr Babatunde, a former presidential candidate of the defunct Nigeria Community Movement Party (NCMP) in the 2019 presidential election, said the form would be presented to Mr Adesina as soon as possible, urging him to accept and contest.

“It is a gift to serve this country and solve our problems. We are calling Adesina because it’s a call to save Nigeria and I think he is going to accept,” Mr Babatunde said.

He also expressed confidence that the coalition would meet up with the APC deadline for submission of the forms, saying we have people on ground and we are very certain that he is a member of APC before we begin to do what we are doing.

On what informed the coalition to buy the forms, the President, One Nigeria Group, Mohammed Saleh, said they believed in Mr Adesina’s capacity to solve the challenges currently facing Nigeria.

Mr Saleh said Mr Adesina had over the years demonstrated the capacity when he served as Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and now the president of AfDB.

“Adesina is a man of proven integrity and experience. He has done so much for Nigeria as Minister for Agriculture.

“He has solved the problems of so many farmers, created so many jobs by solving the corruption in the agricultural sector, particularly the fertiliser, when he introduced the e-wallet, which the farmers are enjoying now and created a lot of jobs.

“It has also helped millions of farmers in Nigeria which they are still benefiting from and also as AfDB president, he has brought a lot of initiatives that solved Africa’s food security problem.

“So, we will like him to come back home and apply it here in Nigeria,” Mr Saleh said.

Asked if they were sure Adesina was a member of APC and how they could woo the party delegates at the convention, Mr Saleh said that was not a problem.

“When we get there, we’ll cross that bridge, don’t worry about that,” he said.

“The most significant thing is for us to get him to agree and come and collect the forms, sign them for us and then join the race. That is the most significant thing at the moment.”

Other members of the coalition include Prudent Youth Association of Nigeria, women groups, farmers, people with disabilities and other civil society groups.

(NAN)