There is friction within the ruling All Progressives Congress as the national chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, purportedly announced Senate President Ahmed Lawan as consensus presidential aspirant.
Adamu made the announcement at the meeting of the National Working Committee of the APC on Monday in Abuja, hours to the primary election of the party scheduled to hold on Tuesday at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
The National Working Committee members of the APC had reportedly divided over the development.
It was learnt, however, that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and David Umahi, among others would still be allowed to contest the primary on Tuesday.
Adamu’s announcement came hours after President Buhari denied unveiling a consensus candidate for the party.
The Northern governors in the ruling party said that President Buhari claimed, on Monday, that he had not anointed a particular candidate.
Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State, said on behalf of other governors that the President clarified that he had no consensus candidate.
Lalong said, “We sat down in the last few days and took a decision and gave an advisory. While we were on our way to advise the President, part of our discussions leaked out.
“Mr President, being a democrat, insisted on listening to us. So, he granted us the opportunity today. Our meeting today is to reaffirm our position.
“We apologised to him that the statement (backing power shift to the South) was made by all of us.
“Mr President was happy with our decision. Mr President believes in a democratic process; and that every candidate must emerge through a transparent process.
“The emphasis Mr President made was that for now, there is no anointed candidate, and therefore directed that the Progressive Governors Forum should meet with the National Working Committee of the party to agree.”
The Northern governors had asked the aspirants from the northern region to withdraw from the presidential race.
A communique issued after Monday’s meeting, read that “After careful deliberation, we wish to state our firm conviction that after eight years in office of President Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the APC for the 2023 elections should be one of our teeming members from the southern states of Nigeria.
“It is a question of honour for the APC, an obligation that is not in any way affected by the decisions taken by another political party.”
Among those in attendance at the meeting were Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi, Simon Lalong of Plateau, Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa, Aminu Masari of Katsina, Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa, Bello Matawalle of Zamfara, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano, Abubakar Bello of Niger, Yahaya Inuwa of Gombe, Babagana Zulum of Borno, Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna and AbdulRahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara.
Meanwhile, President Buhari has said that no single person can claim to have made his emergence as president possible in 2015 as many people played vital roles in the process.
Recall that Tinubu, in Abeokuta, Ogun State last week, said that he was instrumental to Buhari’s victory at the poll seven years ago.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, on Monday, Buhari, who didn’t mention Tinubu’s name specifically, said contributing to his election victory is not what should decide the next general election.
“It is perhaps not surprising that on the eve of the All Progressives Congress flag bearer’s primary there are those running as candidates who wish to associate themselves with the President’s rise to elected office seven years ago.
“There (were) many people who played parts, large and small, in his historic election in 2015, making history as the first opposition candidate to defeat a sitting president with power changing hands peacefully at the ballot box.
“There (were) those who advised the President to run again; those who decided to build a political party – the APC – that could finally be the political vehicle capable of delivering victory where all other opposition parties and alliances before it had failed.
“Those decisions may have been agreed upon by a few. But they were delivered by thousands and voted for by tens of millions. No one can or should claim to have made this possible.
“Yet, as important as that moment was, it is not what should decide the next general election.
“What matters is the future: the policy platforms, the ideas, the drive, and the determination to take over the President’s stewardship of our country and build upon his legacy to make our country better than it has ever been.
“The person most demonstrable in those qualities is the one to lead our party and our country forward.”
