President Muhammadu Buhari has said the ruling All Progressives Congress will not be conducting primaries to select its presidential candidate next week, Nasarawa Governor Abdullahi Sule said on Tuesday, adding that the Nigerian leader insisted on a consensus flag-bearer.
“The president clearly mentioned that our consensus candidate, our candidate to be selected, must be somebody acceptable to Nigerians,” Mr Sule said during an interview with Channels Television.
The governor’s broadcast came hours after Mr Buhari summoned governors to Aso Rock to discuss the ruling party’s convention slated for June 6.
Mr Buhari said during the meeting that the governors, who wield significant powers within the party hierarchy, should allow him a free hand to handpick a successor.
It came as tensions grip the party’s opposing caucuses ahead of the national convention in Abuja. At issue has been the question of whether or not the APC would yield its ticket to a southerner, amongst whom Bola Tinubu is a front runner.
Mr Tinubu has insisted on primaries that will guarantee a broader acceptance of the individual to be elected, saying any discussions of consensus could plunge the party into chaos.
A spokesman for Mr Tinubu did not immediately return a request seeking comments about Mr Buhari’s statement and the additional disclosure from Mr Sule, who was also present at the meeting.
When Mr Buhari said earlier on Tuesday that he wanted his own successor, it was not immediately clear whether or not he would impose a consensus candidate or back a favourite into a free and fair primary.
Mr Buhari emphasised “somebody who understands what APC is all about, what APC is after and he mentioned clearly that it is somebody that will go to every part of the country and be accepted,” Mr Sule added during the interview. “Somebody who will be able to sustain all the good things the president has done.”
The governor maintained the president did not name the individual he planned on backing for the party’s presidential candidature, saying an unveiling would come later.
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