TODAY’s Special Convention for the emergence of the 2023 Presidential nominee from the ruling Progressive Congress, the APC, strong indications indicate that the Seven Presidential nominees have rejected the APC Governors list and are throwing their burden behind Party Chair, Senator Abdullahi Adamu. Aspirants.
Newsglobal gathered that they rejected the names of the five presidential candidates who were said to have been proposed to President Muhammadu Buhari to choose one of the candidates for the meeting, that they were not invited by the Governor to suddenly make a decision. The aggrieved aspirations in a brief statement issued in the early hours of Tuesday shortly after a brief meeting in Abuja described the move as a futile attempt and an already failed attempt for other candidates particularly from the Southeast and the South. According to them, this step was taken too far because they stated that the move was completely absurd because it was against President Buhari’s directives.
The presidential candidates are the Governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade; former minister of state for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba; former Minister of Science and Technology Ogbonnaya Onu, former governor Rochas Okorocha and businessman Tein Jack-Rich in a joint statement issued by Ogbonnaya Onu on behalf of themselves from the recognized list.
According to them, the Governor’s motive was for their personal interests, not for the South. They also clarified that the President had no time to expressly support the zoning of the Presidency to the South, saying that although they supported the Presidency to the South especially the Southeast, neither they nor the other Southeastern Presidential candidates were consulted before such a decision was taken.
Asking Nigerians to ignore the report, Onu stressed that neither the Governors Forum nor the Governors of the North have moral or constitutional jurisdiction to determine the political destiny of the South. Aspirants questioned the alleged election of only one candidate from the Southeast which never produced a Nigerian President and voted for three from the South West, a zone which has had 16 years in the Presidency and the inclusion of a zone from the South South which also produced a President for six years. Onu points out that the Governors are only acting on the satisfactions promised to them by a certain Yoruba candidate from the Southwest, who is also on the list. Onu said that five northern governors had been promised the office of a Vice President, which suddenly prompted some governors to push the All Progressive Congress presidential ticket zoning to the South. According to him, the Governors paid lip service with their reasons for zoning the Presidency to the South on the basis of fairness and justice, he said that if they really mean their word, the Southeast should be the first to be considered for the Presidency and his aspirants then submitted before Buhari for chosen .
Support for the National Chair, Abdullahi Adamu, the Presidential candidates praised the decisions made so far by the party leadership, just as they also argued that the party leadership remains the official organ where decisions are made and obeyed, while urging all stakeholders to generate support for the executive led by Adam.
The statement read ; “In the past few hours we have been bombarded with calls and messages from my supporters and concerned Nigerians on a list of five Presidential aspirants submitted to President Buhari to choose from.
“As long as we are concerned no list has been submitted to Mr. President, the move by the Governors is considered a joke taken to the extreme with the aim of playing with the intellect of Nigerians particularly us from the South-East.
“Mr. President’s directive is very simple, that all Presidential aspirants including those from the North should meet and harmonise inorder to produce a single candidate. As it stands we have not been consulted or attended a meeting where it was agreed that such names be sent to Mr. President.
“In the so-called list out of the five names only one was selected from the South-East and we are talking about fairness and justice to the South. What the Governors have done is a mere picnic in the park. These are the same Governors talking about Equity, justice and fairness yet in a clandestine manner purportedly sidelined the South East.
“In the absence of any harmonised agreement no list has been submitted to Mr. President, what they have done is just nothing but a charade which is bound to fail.
“We also have it on good authority that the majority of these Governors have been promised and also given various forms of gratifications in order to thwart the process in favour of one aspirant and such grand plot will fail woefully.
“Moreso, the party led by Senator Abdullahi Adamu remains the official organ of the party through which decisions taken by stakeholders in the party will be communicated and acted upon, in the absence of that any other move remains null and void.
“We urge all well meaning Nigerians to disregard such information, as we remain in the race hence no consensus agreement has been reached amongst all contestants.
The names, according to the source, included that of the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti State), Rotimi Amaechi, former Minister of Transportation, and Governor Dave Umahi (Ebonyi State).
The governors after meeting with the President said they will return to the villa after meeting with the party’s National Working Committee(NWC) and other stakeholders.
“They picked one from South-East, one from South-South and three from South-West geopolitical zones in line with their position that power should shift to the South,” he said.
The presidential primary of the party is to be held today. The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan was named as the consensus candidate by the National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu and this has however generated both commendations and rejections.
SKJ