APC ticket: President didn’t discuss consensus, zoning in meeting with govs – Adesina
• Fayemi denies stepping down for Osinbajo
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina
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President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, yesterday dismissed media reports that the president asked All Progressives Congress (APC) state governors to pick a consensus candidate ahead of next week’s presidential primaries of the party.
Buhari, according to him, also did not talk about zoning the position during his last meeting with the governors in Abuja.
All the President said was “what he would like to see at the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary to elect a presidential candidate early next week,” Adesina wrote on his Facebook wall in reaction to the media reports.
He added: “No word about zoning, consensus or imposition of candidate. He just charged them to let their plans converge so that the party would put its best foot forward.”
Adesina said he was shocked to read the reports while he was airborne with the President on their way to Spain soon after the Tuesday meeting in Abuja.
His words: “A short time into the about five hours flight, I went on social media to see that all hell had broken loose.
“Trust some Nigerians. When there’s no controversy, they simply create one. They will die of boredom if they don’t have something to wail or ululate about.
“What were they bellyaching on? Oh, he used the words ‘my successor,’ instead of ‘APC candidate.’ That means he wants to rig the election. Otiose.
“Oh, he talked about Governors who performed well being given opportunity to get a second term, for continuity. That means he wants to impose someone from within the government to succeed him. Consensus is what he wants. Puerile.
“Is consensus not one of the acceptable ways of choosing candidates, according to the Electoral Act? So the party can jolly well decide on the method it wants.
“Oh, he didn’t talk about zoning. APC wants to give its ticket to the North. Really? Did you see anything like that in the speech?
“I tell you. When some Nigerians don’t see what they expect in a speech or statement, they simply conjure and create their own. And the wailing starts.”
Buhari, in a speech at the meeting with the governors, had solicited the “reciprocity and support of the governors and other stakeholders in picking my successor, who would fly the flag of our party for election into the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2023.”
He cited the examples of first term APC governors who have been encouraged to stand for re-election having “served credibly well” and second term governors who “have been accorded the privilege of promoting successors that are capable of driving their visions as well as the ideals of the party.”
This, he said, was in line with the party’s “established internal policies that promote continuity and smooth succession plans even at the state and local government levels.”
He appealed to them to “allow our interests to converge, our focus to remain on the changing dynamics of our environment, the expectations of our citizens, and the global community.”
He declared: “Our objective must be the victory of our party and our choice of a candidate must be someone who would give the Nigerian masses a sense of victory and confidence even before the elections.”
Fayemi says he won’t step down from presidential race
Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi vowed yesterday that he would not step down from the APC presidential primaries.
In a statement issued in Abuja, the Director-General, Fayemi Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mr Femi Ige, debunked a report that the Ekiti State governor might be asked to step down for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Ige stated that an online medium reported that Fayemi and four other governors held a meeting with Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, where he was pressured to abandon his presidential ambition.
Ige described the report as absolutely fake, stating that no meeting took place between Fayemi and any aspirant about stepping down.
“Fayemi is undoubtedly one of the leading aspirants for the position and one to watch out for in the race.
“He has deep trust and respect among political leaders in the party and also from colleague governors who form a critical mass in the decision-making process of the party,’’ Ige added.
Your votes will determine Nigeria’s stability, Akpabio tells Oyo delegates
Another presidential aspirant, Chief Godswill Akpabio, yesterday urged national delegates from Oyo State to vote for him, saying that their votes would determine the progress and stability of Nigeria.
The former Akwa Ibom State governor said though some aspirants had visited the state before him to solicit votes, the delegates should rather cast their votes for what he called the Nigeria agenda.
He described himself as the best person to take over from President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
Protesters at APC National Secretariat, demand Jonathan’s adoption as consensus candidate
Some youths yesterday stormed the National Secretariat of the APC in Abuja in a fresh demand that he should fly the flag of the party.
The protesters said the APC should adopt him as its consensus candidate at next week’s primaries.
The chairman of the committee that screened the APC presidential aspirants, Chief Odigie-Oyegun confirmed yesterday that the former president did not appear for screening.
A group had purchased the party’s N100 million nomination and expression of interest forms for him.
Credit: The Nation