Victor Ezeja
Sequel to earlier reports today that Senate President, Ahmad Lawan has been endorsed as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), President Muhammadu Buhari has distanced himself from that, saying he has “no preferred candidate,” and has “anointed no one.”
Buhari made the clarification at a meeting with 14 APC governors of northern states at the State House on Monday ahead of the party’s national convention beginning this evening at Eagle Square, Abuja for the election of presidential flag bearer of the party for the 2023 polls.
Speaking with the Governors during the meeting, Buhari said the party is important and its members must be respected, and made to feel they are important.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelAccording to a statement on Monday evening by the Senior Special Assistant to the president on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, Buhari declared that he had a clear mind about what he was doing and asked the APC governors to feel the same way.
“You were elected as I was. 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 the joy. Allow the delegates to decide. The party must participate, nobody will appoint anybody,” Buhari told the governors.
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Earlier in their addresses, the Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Governor Simon Bako Lalong and Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of the Progressive Governors Forum, said they had come to affirm the position of the Northern Governors that the party’s candidate in the presidential election shall come from the southern part of the country.
They apologised to the President for the leakage of their signed memorandum which was not in support of any particular candidate and gave assurances to the President on their readiness to accept his leadership on the matter.
The governors’ meeting with the president was triggered by report of a meeting earlier in the day by APC national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu with National Working Committee (NWC) members where he told them that Buhari has endorsed Ahmad Lawan as the presidential candidate of the party.
The proposal was however, opposed by the NWC members.
Addressing newsmen at the APC national secretariat, Monday evening, on behalf of other members of the NWC, the National Organising Secretary of the party, H.E. Sulaiman Muhammad Argungu said the position of the National Chairman is his own opinion and doesn’t represent the views of other members.
Argungu said the issue was not discussed during the NWC meeting they had in the afternoon and wondered why the Adamu would issue such a statement.
He said that they (other members of the NWC) are standing by the decision of the Northern and Southern governor’s forums who have resolved that the seat should be zoned to the south.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
