President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Working Committee (NWC) and Governors under the platform of All Progressive Congress (APC) have rejected the choice of the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan as APC’s flagbearer for the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
This happened on Monday, shortly after the Party Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu told members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) that Lawan was President Buhari’s choice as APC flagbearer.
In a swift reaction, President Buhari said, he has no anointed candidate and that the party should pick his standard-bearer democratically.
In a meeting with the party’s 14 governors of northern states at the State House, Abuja, Buhari said, he has “no preferred candidate,” and has “anointed no one,” and was determined to ensure that “there shall be no imposition of any candidate on the party.”
He noted that the party was 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: “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”, he said.
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.
Also yesterday, members of the National Working Committee (NWC) rejected Adamu’s claim on Lawan.
As far as they are concerned, Adamu is on his own. And he is entitled to his opinion. They said it is not binding on them and aligned themselves with the position of the North’s governors for power to shift.
