President Muhammadu Buhari is meeting with presidential aspirants on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), just as northern governors of APC extraction have backed power shift to the southern part of the country.
Swiftly, on behalf of southern governors, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, applauded his northern colleagues and urged President Buhari to restrict his search for a successor to the southern part of the country.
Rising from a meeting on Saturday, the Governors of Niger, Borno, Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara, Nasarawa, Gombe, Plateau, Kano, Kebbi; and former Sokoto State Governor, Senator Aliyu Wamakko said in a statement:
“APC governors and political leaders from the northern states of Nigeria today met to review the political situation and to further support our Party in providing progressive leadership amidst our national challenges. During our discussions, we welcomed President Muhammadu Buhari’s invitation to governors and other stakeholders to contribute to the emergence of a strong presidential candidate for the APC.
“After careful deliberation, we wish to state our firm conviction that after eight years in office of President Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the APC for the 2023 elections should be one of our teeming members from the southern states of Nigeria. It is a question of honour for the APC, an obligation that is not in anyway affected by the decisions taken by another political party. We affirm that upholding this principle is in the interest of building a stronger, more united and more progressive country.
“We therefore wish to strongly recommend to President Muhammadu Buhari that the search for a successor as the APC’s presidential candidate be limited to our compatriots from the southern states. We appeal to all aspirants from the northern states to withdraw in the national interest and allow only the aspirants from the south to proceed to the primaries. We are delighted by the decision of our esteemed colleague, His Excellency, Governor Abubakar Badaru to contribute to this patriotic quest by withdrawing his presidential aspiration.
“The APC has a duty to ensure that the 2023 elections offer a nation-building moment, reaffirming that a democratic pathway to power exists for all who value cooperation and build national platforms. This moment calls for the most sober and inclusive approach to selecting our party’s candidate, and we call on all APC leaders to fulfil their responsibility in this regard.”
The statement by the Chairman of the Southern Governors Forum, Rotimi Akeredolu, reads in full:
We received with utmost joy the news of the resolution of the 11 Governors from the Northern Region thus:
” We therefore wish to strongly recommend to President Muhammad Buhari that the search for his successor as the APC Presidential Candidate be limited to our compatriots from the Southern states. We appeal to all aspirants from the Northern state to withdraw in the national interest and allow only the aspirants from the south to proceed to the primaries. We are delighted by the decision of our esteem colleague His Excellency Gov Abubakar Badru to contribute to this patriotic quest by withdrawing his presidential aspiration.”
We did not expect anything short of this heart-warming decision from our colleagues, great patriots and reliable partners in the collaborative efforts geared towards the attainment of nationhood for our dear country. This is indeed another landmark achievement in our quest for understanding, rapprochement and continual engagements for mutual beneficence.
We acknowledge this courageous stance for equity and moral rectitude. We applaud the zeal and determination of our brothers to engage realistically and honestly. We salute this uncommon resolve to confront issues militating against the march towards nationhood and ultimate greatness. By this gesture, we are convinced of the seriousness of our colleagues to join other patriots in ensuring that the ascendant march towards stability, progress and prosperity is not truncated by indiscretion.
We congratulate our brother Governor, Abubakar Badaru, for his exemplary conduct. Posterity will remember him for good. We thank the leadership of the Northern Governors’ Forum for the patriotic zest displayed at this crucial moment. We look forward to conducting a hitch free Convention which will culminate in the election of a suitable candidate who will hoist the flag of the party with a sense of mission.”
President Buhari’s dinner at the Presidential Villa is ongoing with former Lagos Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and others, even as party National Chairman, Senator Abdulahi Adamu, has hinted at disciplinary measures against Tinubu for his “insulting” remarks against the President.
Recall that in Abeokuta, Ogun State on Thursday, Tinubu had boasted how he made Buhari the President; Prof Yemi Osinbajo, the Vice President; and derogatorily pointed to Governor Dapo Abiodun as someone he made State chief executive.
https://everyday.ng/2022/06/days-to-go-chest-thumping-tinubu-tells-how-he-made-buhari-president-osinbajo-vp/
Adamu, Governors, Buhari
In Abuja on Saturday, Adamu also clarified that no presidential aspirant was disqualified adding that what the screening committee did was to grade the 23 that participated in the screening exercise.
Adamu said on Tinubu: “He went as far as saying how Gen Muhammadu Buhari went to him, citing instances of even prostrating in tears begging him to endorse him and to support him for the presidency. He claimed Buhari went to him.
His utterances are very, very insulting. It’s very, very unbecoming for a person of that standing to do what he did to the sitting president of the federal republic of Nigeria, the President produced by the votes of the APC. Though he is the president he belongs to everybody. It is amazing how a fellow APC person would make that kind of comment in that kind of circumstances about the president. We take exception to this. It has shown that he does not show any appreciable level of respect for the office of Mr President.
“Therefore we want to make it public that we are saddened by what we saw in the video, in that reportàge and we condemn it in the strongest of terms. We do hope that he would never say that kind of again, particularly of the APC extraction to make such kinds of comments.
On the clarification given by Tinubu in a statement on Friday, the party chief said, “Yes, yesterday we saw some part of a retraction but that effort is not adequate. It is not sincere. It is not in-depth enough. It doesn’t wipe out the impression that that event has left in our minds….
https://everyday.ng/2022/06/the-bola-ahmed-tinubu-recant-after-abeokuta-outburst/
“At the time this event took place, the screening committee have not presented their report to us at all. And was trying to suggest that anybody was under any threat. So there was no justification for the time that thing happened.
“This morning we saw some traces of withdrawal of those statements. You see these are statements that his intention of actual action. Yes, we can’t say we refuse not seeing on the papers. It happened. He said he has the greatest respect for the president. You see in Hausa there is a proverb that once you take hold of any amount of grass from a thatched house and you pulled it off from the roof, you can’t replace the same number of grass. What is out is out. What he did say was not an apology. It’s just like trying to retract and you say I didn’t mean this. It’s a problem of misinterpretation. It is not a regret.
“If there is the need to penalise any member of the party not just Bola Tinubu, anybody we will bring him to the party book. Anybody as we watch events as they unfold.”
Adamu rested the issue of statutory delegates, insisting that they would be excluded from the presidential primary
On disqualified aspirants, Adamu said, “I want to say very clearly that no aspirant has. been disqualified. It’s like sitting in an exam. Even if you pass there is grading from first-class to ordinary pass. So no aspirant was disqualified. Incidentally, the president has invited all of them to a dinner today.”