There is a brewing storm in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as indications show that contrary to the position of most Northern Governors on power shift to the South National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Abdullahi Adamu has announced Senate president Ahmad Lawan as the party’s consensus presidential candidate.
According to reports Adamu announced this at the meeting of the National Working Committee, NWC, on Monday evening in Abuja.
It was however not a unanimous decision however as some members of the NWC reportedly kicked against the move and insisted that other Presidential aspirants which include Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Engr. David Umahi must be allowed to contest the primary election at tomorrow’s convention scheduled at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
Adamu’s adoption of Lawan as the consensus candidate is against the position of 11 APC northern governors who had earlier voted that power must shift to the South after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure.
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It however appears that Adamu was only doing the President’s bidding as he told the NWC that he arrived at the choice of Lawan after consultation with President Buhari.
President Buhari had earlier been reported to have asked the governors to allow him to choose his successor the same way that they, the governors had been choosing their own successors.
It is unclear how some of the front-runners such as Vice-president Yemi Osinbajo and Asiwaju Bala Ahmed Tinubu are responding to this latest development.
The primaries take place tomorrow and it promises to be a hard-fought battle.
Meanwhile, Northern APC Governors reject Lawan as Consensus Candidate
Daily Trust reports that The All Progressives Congress (APC) governors from the North have rejected the choice of Senate President Ahmed Lawan as the consensus presidential candidate of the party.
The National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, was said to have announced Lawan as the consensus candidate, a decision members of the National Working Committee reportedly disagreed with.
In a meeting on Monday with President Muhammadu Buhari, the Northern governors insisted that power should rotate to Southern part of the country in 2023.
The Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum, Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State, briefed State House reporters after the meeting with the president at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He said the 13 of them apologised to the president for receiving the information about their position after it was leaked.
The governor, however, said that they took the decision in the interest of justice and peace in the country.
Lalong, who stated that they would hold another meeting by 5pm today among themselves, said the president agreed with their position and maintained that the presidential candidate must emerge through a transparent process.
He said President Buhari told them he did not have an anointed candidate for now and directed them to meet the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to agree on the succession plan.
On the absence of the Governor of Kogi State at the meeting where the power shift decision was taken, he said his colleague was not part of the agreement as his signature was not on the statement.
In his contribution, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State said it was the democratic right of Kogi governor to excuse himself.
