Vanguard
Intrigues and tension reigned in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as the party and its presidential aspirants put finishing touches to their preparations for today’s presidential primaries.
The campaign offices of some of the presidential aspirants were beehives as supporters streamed in and out with information that would help the cause of their candidates.
Amid jostling among the aspirants in what was panning out as a three-horse race among Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Rotimi Amaechi and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, the various camps were jolted when news filtered in that Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, had been picked as a consensus candidate.
National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullah Adamu, told members of the National Working Committee, NWC, mid-day that in consultation with President Muhammadu Buhari, the Senate President had been chosen as a consensus candidate for the exercise.
The announcement ignited a chain reaction, first from the NWC members, who kicked against it and insisted that all other aspirants must take part in the primaries.
Like a wild harmattan fire, the news travelled fast to the camps of the aspirants, and APC northern governors, who have been in Abuja since last week.
The 13 APC governors in support of the power shift to the South, stormed Aso Villa for a meeting with President Buhari, after which they reiterated their stand on the power shift.
The APC denied endorsing Senate President Ahmad Lawan as its consensus candidate ahead of its special convention and presidential primary election which begins tomorrow.
The party said it aligns with the position of 13 of its governors from the North who have insisted on a power shift to the South.
Also, the Tinubu Campaign Organization described Adamu’s unilateral declaration as illegal, saying there are conditions precedent for any consensus arrangement to be legal.
Vanguard also gathered that the northern governors on Monday night had an interface with the NWC to know how Senator Adamu arrived at the choice of Lawan.
“The governors are angry because they had already taken a position and have also restated their position after wide consultations. Adamu took a unilateral decision which of course has been rejected by the NWC. So, the governors are meeting the NWC to formally convey their position to the committee having earlier conveyed same to Mr President,” said a source close to one of the governors.
Buhari disowns Adamu
As tension welled up, President Buhari, yesterday afternoon, cleared all doubts about where he stood on the choice of APC presidential candidate.
He told the party’s Northern governors that he had “no preferred candidate,” and has “anointed no one.”
The president also said that he was determined to ensure that “there shall be no imposition of any candidate on the party.”
This is as the APC governors of northern extraction have maintained their initial position that power should go to the South after President Buhari’s eight years in office.
Speaking at a meeting with the governors at the State House, Abuja, President Buhari said the party is important and its members must be respected and made to feel they are important.
The president said he had a clear mind about what he was doing and asked the APC governors to feel the same way. A statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu quoted the President as saying: “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.”
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.
Briefing State House correspondents at the end of their meeting with the President, Governor Lalong said, “We had a meeting this afternoon with the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, our dear President Buhari and this meeting is also in line with part of the consultations that Mr President had.
“Of course, Mr President had a meeting with us governors and series of people, but at the APC Northern Governors’ Forum, we sat down, we reviewed a lot of things in this country and we discussed at length the unity of this country, about the need for progress and the need for inclusiveness, and also the need for accommodation.
“We sat down in the last few days and 13 out of 14 governors agreed. We took a deck decision to advise Mr President. While we were on our way to advise Mr President, I think part of the discussions that we had leaked out to the press.
“Well, we still went ahead and we told Mr President. Mr President, being a democrat, said no, he must listen to us, he would listen to us. And so, Mr President granted the opportunity today.”
On the reason they came to the Presidential Villa, Lalong said: “Our mission today is to reaffirm our position on that statement. We also apologized to him that that statement was made by all of us and we reaffirm the position, but we apologized that the probe of the statements leaked out before even our consultations with him.
“However, it is now in the message, not the messenger. So, Mr President was very happy. He took our position and out of that discussion, Mr President, as a believer in the democratic process, believe that any candidate must emerge through a transparent process.
“Mr President told us that for this election, for now, he has no anointed candidate and therefore directed that the Progressive Governors Forum meet with the National Working Committee of the party to agree and proffer further solutions and recommendations for his succession.
“I am sure this will be the last of consultations. So, we are directed that after this, our chairman of Progressive Governors’ Forum has also summoned a meeting for five o’clock today and after that meeting, we’ll make again further suggestions to Mr President.
“For emphasis, those of you who read it, I have a copy of what we wrote, which was already out of the dress, and I said we wrote it and we stand by it; that in the interest of unity, in the interests of peace, we recommended that and also justice, we recommend that the next President should come from the south.
“I told you that the President believes in the democratic c process, but even during the democratic process, that are consultations, that are consensus, is also part of the democratic process. Even our constitution provides for that; it says consensus and then the election, either direct or indirect.
“So, what we’re doing is part of the build-up towards the election. What we’re also saying is a recommendation as we think that will bring out a very peaceful process.”
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