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Buhari denies endorsement of any candidate | The Harmattan News
President Muhammadu Buhari has assured the Northern APC governors that he has not endorsed any of the 23 aspirants seeking to be the presidential candidate of the APC, contrary to the alleged assertion of the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu.
The Harmattan News learnt that President Buhari made the denial during his meeting with the party’s 14 governors of northern states that he has “no preferred candidate,” has “anointed no one,” and is determined to ensure that “there shall be no imposition of any candidate on the party.”
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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.
According to a statement by the president’s spokesperson Garba Shehu, Buhari said 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 joy. Allow the delegates to decide. The Party must participate, nobody will appoint anybody.”
Briefing journalists after the meeting, the Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, disclosed that the president, instead, directed that governors of APC-controlled states meet with the National Working Committee of the party, to fine-tune modalities for the selection of the presidential flag bearer of APC.
“The president told us that for the APC presidential primaries, 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 successor.
“And based on his directive, the Chairman of Progressive Governors’ Forum has summoned a meeting for 5:00 (local time) today, after which we will make further suggestions to the President,” Mr Lalong said.
The Plateau governor added that the governors were at the Presidential Villa to apologise to the president because they met at the weekend and took a position to support the power shift to the southern part of the country in the spirit of fairness but before they could convey their position to the president, the matter got leaked.
Also speaking, the Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu, said the stance of the northern PDP governors that power should shift to the south was for fairness.
“We looked at the totality of the issues in our country and we believe APC with a President that has delivered democratic dividends across the breadth of the country and 22 Governors, has everything going for it.
“What is the political brinkmanship that we need to bring so that every component of Nigeria will feel important. It is to allow the opportunity for other parts of the country. And this is a step that will bring more peace and resonate with every part of Nigeria,” he said.
Also speaking, the Kaduna State Governor, Nasiru El-Rufai, said out of the 14 governors of APC states in Northern Nigeria, only one, that of Kogi State, who is also an aspirant, disagreed with their position of zoning the presidency to the south.
The Governors 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.
