EXCLUSIVE: APC Governors Divided Over Buhari’s Consensus Presidential Candidate

AN24 gathered that some APC governors loyal to the National Leader of the party and a leading presidential aspirant, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu met at Mallam Aminu Kano House, the Kano State Governor’s Lodge at Asokoro in Abuja.

The meeting is a follow-up to the previous one held on Tuesday evening by all the APC governors at the Kebbi State Governor’s Lodge to discuss the stance of President Buhari on the party’s presidential candidate.

AN24 gathered from reliable sources that the meeting at the Asokoro residence of the Chairman of Progressives Governors’ Forum and Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu, held shortly after APC governors’ meeting with President Buhari, ended in a deadlock as they failed to reach a consensus.

It would be recalled that President Buhari during a meeting at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday afternoon told the governors that he should be allowed to pick his successor and wanted the governors to support him to do so.

The governors, based on the outcome of the meeting with President Buhari met at the Kebbi State Governor’s Lodge but the meeting according to reliable sources ended in deadlock as they could not agree on how to implement the president’s request.

READ ALSO: Buhari To Governors: Allow Me To Pick My Successor

The APC governors were divided over which part of the country to support for the presidency between the North and South since President Buhari has not settled for any particular person among the 23 presidential aspirants screened on Monday and Tuesday by the Chief John Odigie-Oyegun led APC Presidential Screening Committee.

While some Northern APC governors pushed that the party’s presidential candidate should come from the North to challenge the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the Southern governors said the South should be given preference in the spirit of equity and fairness since the incumbent President Buhari is from the North.

AN24 also gathered that some of the governors while considering the possibility of backing a Southerner for the APC presidential candidate were sharply divided over who to support between Asiwaju Tinubu and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

Following the inability of the APC governors to agree, they resolved to end the meeting and reconvene another meeting tonight or tomorrow, a development that forced many governors to extend their stay in Abuja.

Meanwhile, ahead of the rescheduled APC governors’ meeting, some presidential aspirants met separately with some other presidential aspirants on Tuesday night.

AN24 exclusively gathered that Asiwaju Tinubu met with some governors and APC leaders on Tuesday night at the Kano State Governor’s Lodge. Governor Abdallahi Ganduje is one of the major supporters of Asiwaju Tinubu.

Other presidential aspirants also met with some party leaders and members of their campaign team to strategise ahead of next week’s APC presidential primary.

Facebook Comments