All Progressives Congress (APC), national chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, has announced Ahmad Lawan, senate president, as the party’s consensus presidential candidate for the 2023 general election.
Adamu announced the choice of Lawan at the meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) on Monday, in Abuja.
The announcement by Adamu did not go down well with governors of the party from the northern part of the country, who are opposed to the purported adoption of the Ahmad Lawan as the consensus presidential flagbearer of the party.
A source close to one of the governors maintained that Lawan cannot be forced on the northern governors to adopt during the election of the flagbearer of the party.
Adamu, who faulted the widely held notion that the party had agreed to zone the exalted seat of the presidency to the South, claimed that the party arrived at the choice of Lawan after consultation with President Muhammadu Buhari.
The choice of Lawan incidentally coincided with the meeting by the Northern governors with President Buhari over the issue relating to the adoption of the consensus candidate of the party.
A source, who asked not to be named, assured that the governors would definitely convince President Buhari to adhere to their earlier position on the need to rotate power to the South in the line with the need to ensure fairness and justice in the polity.
“Be rest assured that we will have an elective convention. That is what the delegates want. The governors would not agree to adopt Lawan after their earlier resolution for power shift to the South,” the source noted.
Efforts to reach the spokesperson of the party, Felix Morka, on the purported endorsement of Lawan by the party failed to yield results as he did not respond to the issue.
It is believed that members of the APC national working committee (NWC) who are opposed to the adoption of Lawan have demanded the conduct of an elective convention where delegates would be allowed to vote for any of the presidential aspirants of their choice.
Reacting to the move, some APC northern governors raced to Aso Villa and currently meeting with -President Muhammadu Buhari.
The meeting is coming a day before the commencement of the party’s convention to elect its presidential candidate for the 2023 general elections.
Although President Buhari has maintained his position on the consensus arrangement, there has not been any agreement among the 23 presidential aspirants.
The meeting with the APC governors from the North is the fourth parley in his effort to ensure that the party presents a consensus candidate so as to reduce acrimony that may arise at the end of the convention.
The governors in attendance are the Chairman of Progressive Governors Forum and governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu, chairman of Northern governors Forum and governor of Plateau State, Simeon Lalong, Abubakar Baduru (Jigawa) and Babagana Zulum (Borno).
Others are Aminu Bello Masari (Katsina), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Bello Matawale (Zamfara), Mallam Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Yahaya Inuwa (Gombe), Abubakar Bello (Niger), and the Yobe State governor, Mai Mala Buni.
