. Tinubu, Party NWC Members Kick

.  Northern Govs Insist on Southern Presidency

.I’ve not Anointed Anyone, Buhari Insists

By Jude Opara and Mathew Dadiya, Abuja

Controversy reigns supreme in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as the party gets set to conduct its Special Convention for the selection of the party’s presidential candidate.

This has created a state of flux in the party,  less than 24 hours to the main event of choosing the party’s flag bearer for the 2023 Presidential Election
as members of the party are still at a loss following the free flow of contending information concerning the mode  of the primary.

While the leadership of the party is inclined to a consensus option and has been shopping for an acceptable candidate, Tinubu and some other of the aspirants  insist on voting having expended N100million for the purchase of the party’s nomination form.

A little respite appeared on the horizon on Saturday when 11 northern governors of the party and some elders of the party from the zone agreed that power should shift to the South and urged all northern aspirants to step down.

Adamu made the announcement on Senator Lawan at the meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) contrary to the position of the northern governors.
Briefing newsmen at the National Secretariat of the party, the National Organizing Secretary, Sulieman Argungu confirmed the position of Adamu.

He said that members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party were earlier informed by the Chairman that the party has settled for Lawan as its consensus candidate and that they never deliberated on it.

Argungu said; “Distinguish members of the press, as you can see all of us are coming from the NWC meeting. That we were fully briefed by our National Chairman, distinguished Senator Abdullahi  Adamu and he did brief us that the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan is the consensus candidate for the APC National Convention and that’s just for the information he gave us.

“But it’s not an issue that has been discussed on the floor of the NWC and just recently  about two days ago, the Northern Governors meeting had a meeting that the leadership of this country, under the leadership of the All  Progressive Congress should go to the north. 

“So we as members of the NWC, we are also with the governors  on what they have said and some minutes ago the governors on the North have gone to the presidency and have just briefed the president that they are still on what they said with regards to the power shift to the South”.

When asked if the other NWC members are going to reject the position of the national chairman, the National Organizing Secretary said; “You see its just an information he gave us, and its not an issue that have to be deliberated on the floor of the NWC. It is an information and all of us are entitled to our opinion, we are all democrats and we can exercise whatever opinion we want.

“This decision was never taken by the NWC, but an information given to the NWC. It has never been deliberated.

Meanwhile, President Muhammmadu Buhari has said he has not anointed any candidate adding that there shall be no imposition of a presidential candidate for the party.

Buhari in a statement released by the Senior Special Assistant on Media, Garba Shehu on Monday said the statement has cleared all doubts about where he stands on the choice of a presidential candidate for the ruling APC.

Shehu added that the President had declared before the party’s 14 governors of the northern states that he has “no preferred candidate,” and has “anointed no one,” and is determined to ensure that “there shall be no imposition of any candidate on the party.”

The President according to his media aide further 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.”

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. 

One of the presidential aspirants and governor of Kogi state, (North-central,) Yahaya Bello, who by reason of the position of his colleagues is no longer eligible to contest, angrily stormed out of a meeting of the Northern governors. 

The meeting was called by the governors to cement their earlier position to support the presidency to shift to the South after the eight years of President Buhari who hails from Katsina state.

Bello was said to have stormed out of the meeting when it was agreed by his counterparts that the candidate of the party for the 2023 presidential election, should come from the south.

There is also a school of thought that believes that the party is trying to sell a dormy by claiming that it has settled for Lawan who is from the North East, the same as former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar who clinched the ticket of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

But a Chairman of party in one of the northern states who pleaded anonymity told DAILY ASSET that they will not accept the position of the party if they insist on Lawan.

According to him, President Buhari cannot impose any candidate on the party because he has not been a fantastic leader. 

The former governor of Lagos state, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in  rejectinh the idea of consensus candidacy said it was a legal impossibility.

In a statement issued on Monday by the Director; Legal Directorate Tinubu Campaign Organization, Babatunde Ogala and titled “Consensus Candidate a Legal Impossibility” said  they are not in support of the consensus arrangement and alleged endorsement of Ahmed Lawan.

According to the statement “The media is inundated with reports that the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (“APC”) has unilaterally announced the purported adoption of a certain aspirant as the consensus presidential candidate of the APC for the forth coming presidential election in 2023.

“While the National Chairman is yet to deny or offer any clarification on the alleged declaration, it is necessary to state that such a declaration is a legal impossibility. This is because the under the regime of the Electoral Act 2022, consensus, though provided for as one of the means by which a political party may produce its candidate, must specifically occur in a precise form.

“Section 84(9) (10) and (11) of the Electoral Act 2022 are the relevant provisions and they state as follows:

“’A political party that adopts a consensus candidate shall secure the written consent of all cleared aspirant for the position, indicating their voluntary withdrawal from the race and their endorsement of the consensus candidate’.

“Where a political party is unable to secure a written consent of all cleared aspirants for the purpose of a consensus candidate, it shall revert to the choice of direct or indirect primaries for the nomination of candidates for the aforesaid elective position.

“A special convention or nomination congress shall be held to ratify the choice of consensus candidates at designated centers at the National, State, Senatorial, Federal and State Constituencies, as the case may be.

“Instructively, none of the above conditions have occurred in respect of producing the presidential candidate of the APC. Therefore, any declaration of a consensus candidate would be premature and a violation of extant provisions of the law. We are confident that as a law-abiding entity, the APC will not be part of such”.

The Tinubu group also urged its supporters to disregard the said endorsement, considering that the majority of the APC Northern Governors who, after meeting with the President, re-affirmed their preference for a president from the Southern part of Nigeria.

They also warned that if allowed, the action of the National Chairman on a consensus presidential candidate for the party will not only violate the law, but set the party on collision cause with its governors and other critical stakeholders in the party.

Meanwhile, as at the time of filing this report,  members of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) arrived at the National Secretariat of the party for another late crisis meeting with the National Chairman, Sen. Abdulahi Adamu who was nevertheless not present at the secretariat.

APC Presidential Ticket: I’ve not Anointed Anyone- Buhari

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari, Monday cleared all doubts about where he stands on the choice of a presidential candidate for the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), declaring before the party’s 14 governors of northern states that he has “no preferred candidate,” and has “anointed no one,” and is determined to ensure that “there shall be no imposition of any candidate on the party.”

Speaking at a meeting with the Governors at the State House, Abuja, 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: “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.

Speaking with State House Correspondents at the end of the meeting, the APC governors explained that “We had a meeting this afternoon with the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, our dear President Muhammadu 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 about the unity of this country, about the need for progress and the need for inclusiveness, and also the need for accommodation.”

Asked whether the governor of Kogi State part of the decision because his name was not in the list, Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-rufai said, they met before coming to meet with Mr. President, we met all of us, including the governor of Kogi State. 

El-rufai explained that, “he is not the only aspirant, the governor of Jigawa State is also an aspirant and he’s here with us and we met. But the governor of Kogi State chose to excuse himself from meeting with Mr. President because he believes that he does not agree with our position.

“There are 14 APC governors out of the 19 Northern states. 13 of us are on one page on this subject and we all came to see the President, but the governor of Kogi State excused himself and it is within his democratic rights to excuse himself. But 12 out of 14 is a supermajority. 13 out of 14 is an even bigger supermajority and the 13 of us met with the President today. What our leader has communicated to you is a summary of the discussions with Mr. President.”

On governor Yahaya Bello’s consistent that he was not consulted, governor El-rufai explained that he (governor Yahaya Bello) was invited to the meeting, he had a clash, he didn’t make it, we proceeded. I have said this in this hall over and over. I don’t know why people assume that when you have 100 people, everyone must agree before a decision can be taken. That is the key to analysis paralysis.

“When the majority, or even a super majority, like 12 out of 14, takes a decision, everyone is bound. There is no time that everyone will agree to an issue. It’s part of human nature. But what is the majority view of Northern governors? We represent the majority, indeed a supermajority Thank you.

“Also, in any case, please to the question. His name is not on our list, we didn’t write his name. So even without writing his name, it shows that he was not part of it,” the northern governors added.