Crisis has hit the All Progressives Congress (APC) following the announcement of Senate President Ahmed Lawan as consensus presidential aspirant by the national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.
Adamu made the announcement at the meeting of National Working Committee (NWC) on Monday in Abuja.
Other aspirants including Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Dr. Kayode Fayemi and David Umahi, among others will however be allowed to contest the primary at the convention holding tomorrow at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
The NWC members insisted other aspirants must be given a level playing ground to compete.
Adamu’s adoption of Lawan as 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 National Working Committee that he arrived at the choice of Lawan after consultation with President Buhari.
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 so as to reduce acrimony that may arise at the end of the convention.
The governors in attendance are 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.
The Nation/Vanguard Newspapers initially publish this story
