Confusion Envelops APC Delegates, As President Buhari, Adamu, Party Chairman, Speak In Discordance Tune
…Buhari Says He Has No Anointed APC Presidential Candidate
…Party Chairman was alleged to have said that the Senate President Ahmed Lawan is the consensus candidate for APC
As the All Progressive Congress (APC) holds its presidential primary today, the party delegates have been thrown into confusion as the party hierarchy speaks in discordance tune.
While President Muhammadu Buhari has cleared all doubts about where he stands on the choice of a presidential candidate for the governing party by saying I
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, made the position of the President known in a statement on Monday in Abuja.
He declared before the party’s governors of northern states that he has “no preferred candidate,” and has “anointed no one,”.
Rather, the President said he was determined to ensure that “there shall be no imposition of any candidate on the party.”
According to him, President Buhari gave the assurance in his remarks at a meeting with the governors when he said the party is important and its members must be respected and made to feel they are important.
“You were elected as I was,” said the President who explained that he had a clear mind about what he was doing and asked the APC governors to feel the same way.
“Have a clear mind as I have. God gave us the chance; we have no reason to complain. We must be ready to take pain as we take joy. Allow the delegates to decide. The party must participate, nobody will appoint anybody.”
The Party chairman, Abdullahi Adamu yesterday said that the party has chosen the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan as its consensus candidate.
In a swift reaction, however, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said he is on his own while they are in support of the emergence of a southerner as the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections.
APC National Organising Secretary, Suleiman Argungu, disclosed this on Monday while addressing reporters at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
While briefing reporters in the company of some members of the NWC, he explained that the committee took the decision following a meeting of its members.
According to Argungu, the NWC stands with the position of the northern governors elected on the APC platform for power to shift to the southern part of the country when President Muhammadu Buhari completes his eight-year two terms billed to lapse in May 2023.
He made the remarks amid reports by several media outfits that a presidential hopeful and Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, had emerged as the party’s consensus candidate for the forthcoming poll.
The emergence of the Senate President as the APC consensus presidential candidate was alleged to have been announced by the party’s national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, although Channels Television could not verify this claim at the time it was reported.
Senator Adamu, who apparently attended the meeting of the NWC, left the APC secretariat without confirming to reporters if he truly announced Lawan as the party’s consensus presidential candidate or not.
Channels Television had reported that 13 northern APC governors met with President Buhari at his office inside the Presidential Villa in Abuja in what could be described as last-minute consultation ahead of the party’s primary.
Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, said the governors have insisted that they would back a southerner to emerge as the presidential candidate of the APC.
He clarified that the leaked memo that went viral last Saturday was the true position of the northern governors, and they came to officially consult with the President.
According to the governor, President Buhari has not anointed any of the 23 aspirants expected to participate in the party’s primary as the flagbearer of the APC.
Rather, he explained that the President asked the governors to have a meeting with the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to resolve the issue of a consensus candidate through democratic means.
At the same vein, the northern governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have insisted that they would back a southerner to emerge as the presidential candidate of the ruling party in the 2023 general elections.
Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, stated this on Monday while briefing State House correspondents in Abuja.
The governors, 13 of them, made their position known following their meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Governor Lalong, in his briefing, clarified that the leaked memo that went viral last Saturday was the true position of the northern governors and they came to officially consult with the President.
According to the governor, President Buhari has not anointed any of the 23 aspirants expected to participate in the party’s primary as the flagbearer of the APC.
Rather, he explained that the President asked the governors to have a meeting with the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to resolve the issue of a consensus candidate through democratic means.
Governor Lalong stated that the decision of the governors to return power to the South was to ensure equity, peace, and unity in the country.
Other governors who attended the meeting include Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano, Aminu Masari of Katsina, Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa, and Abubakar Bello of Niger.
Also present were Bello Matawalle of Zamfara, Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe, Babagana Zulum of Borno, Simon Lalong of Plateau, Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi, and Mai Mala Buni of Yobe.
A total of 28 aspirants picked the APC presidential nomination and expression of interest forms sold at N100 million. Some of them paid for the forms themselves in some cases while various interest groups purchased the nomination tickets for their preferred aspirants.
Former President Jonathan and the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, were among those whose forms were bought for them, but the duo have since condemned the move and rejected these forms.
Besides both men, the APC also dropped the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige; Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva; and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, from aspirants to be screened by its panel.
Thereafter, 23 aspirants appeared before the APC Presidential Screening Committee. In no particular order, they include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Ahmad Lawan, APC chieftain Bola Tinubu, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti; former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio; former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole; and oil magnate, Tein Jack Rich.
Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa; former governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun; former governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha; popular Pastor Tunde Bakare, former governor of Zamfara State, Sani Yerima; and former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, also appeared before the panel.
Also screened were former Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba; former presidential candidate, Nicholas Felix; a female aspirant, Uju Ken-Ohanenye; Ondo North Senator, Ajayi Boroffice; and a former Senate President, Ken Nnamani.
Others include Governor David Umahi Ebonyi; former Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Ogbonnaya Onu; Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi, and former Minister of Information under the late General Sani Abacha regime, Ikeobasi Mokelu.
At the end of the primary, the party is expected to produce its candidate who will contest for the office of the President alongside the flagbearers of other political parties in the 2023 general elections.
The person most demonstrable in those qualities is the one to lead our party and our country forward.
olusola Bello