Despite the keen contest between Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for the All Progressives Congress, APC’s presidential ticket, the duo might have technically been schemed out of the presidential race.
If this development is left unturned, it puts to rest the Southern presidency debate that has been on the front burner at the party’s table.
Adamu, in a report earlier published by Vanguard, was said to have announced Ahmed Lawan as a consensus candidate at the meeting of the National Working Committee, NWC, on Monday, in Abuja.
The report detailed how some members of the NWC kicked against the move and insisted that other Presidential aspirants which include Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and Dr Kayode Fayemi, Engr. David Umahi must be allowed to contest the primary election at tomorrow’s convention scheduled at Eagle Square, Abuja.
Adamu’s adoption of Lawan as a consensus candidate is against the position of 11 APC Northern governors who endorsed that power must shift to the South after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure.
Adamu told the NWC that he arrived at the choice of Lawan after consultation with President Buhari.
How it unfolded
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 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.
