President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to take a final decision this weekend on the way forward as governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) failed to agree on a consensus presidential candidate ahead of the party’s national convention scheduled for Monday, June 6 in Abuja.
The president, who is currently on a trip to Spain at a meeting with the 22 governors of the party and the national chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, on Monday, had demanded to be allowed to choose his successor as a sign of reciprocity.
According to him, while governors, who just served their first term were given the privilege of securing second term ticket, outgoing ones, after serving out their constitutional two terms of eight years, also had the privilege to choose their successors, he asked to be allowed to choose his successor.
As a way forward, the governors met twice on Tuesday and Wednesday but could not agree on who to recommend to the president for consideration as there is a sharp division among them on who to present as a consensus candidate.
With 14 governors in the North and eight in the South, the battle has been turned into a North and South battle with governors from both regions refusing to shift ground.
PulseNets gathered that APC governors loyal to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a frontline presidential aspirant of the ruling party, have rejected the idea of a Northern consensus candidate ahead of the presidential primary.
The pro-Tinubu governors are led by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, Abdullahi Ganduje, Kano; Gboyega Oyetola, Osun; Babagana Zulum, Borno; and Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State.
Credible presidency sources had earlier informed Daily Independent that the president is desirous of having his deputy, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, succeed him even though he was yet to formally announce his choice.
However, some power brokers in the ruling party who felt that no Southern candidate can match Atiku Abubakar, who has emerged as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are pushing for a Northern candidate to split the votes from the North.
They are, therefore, proposing Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, and Jigawa State Governor, Abubakar Badaru.
Sources in the party informed PulseNets that the governors loyal to Tinubu had vehemently kicked against the proposal for a Northern presidential candidate, saying if the party insists on a consensus candidate, it must be the former Lagos State governor.
“The meeting of the governors at the Asokoro residence of the Chairman of Progressive Governors’ Forum and Kebbi State governor, Atiku Bagudu, held yesterday ended in a deadlock as they failed to reach a consensus.
“Tinubu’s loyalists are of the view that President Buhari has the right to choose his preferred aspirant but he should allow a primary where other aspirants can test their popularity. Nobody should be asked to step down against their wish.
“They are also of the view that if the party insists on fielding a consensus candidate, then that candidate must be Tinubu as he is the only one with the clout to defeat a strong politician like Atiku.
“They also faulted the claim by some of their colleagues that no Southerner can defeat Atiku, saying Tinubu enjoys the same popularity as the late MKO Abiola who defeated the late Bashir Tofa in his home state of Kano and won the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election”.
Given the stalemate, President Buhari who is expected to return to Nigeria from his trip to Madrid, Spain, is expected to chart the way forward and present his candidate to the party ahead of the convention.
