President Buhari will deny that he endorsed Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, as the ruling All Progressives Congress consensus candidate as part of the gimmicks being played by his government, presidency sources have told SaharaReporters.
SaharaReporters learnt that Buahri indeed confided in the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, that Lawan was his choice but never instructed him to make it public.
“Buhari will deny that he anointed Senate President, Lawan as consensus candidate. Although Buhari confided in Adamu, that he prefers Lawan, he didn’t tell him to announce it.
“Governors had pigeon-holed Buhari by asking the presidency to go to the South and Kaduna Governor, (Nasir) El- Rufai got wind of it and leaked their position to the press to pressurise Buhari not to endorse Lawan,” one of the top sources revealed.
Earlier, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) announced Senate President Lawan as the consensus presidential candidate of the party.
Adamu made the announcement at the meeting of National Working Committee (NWC) on Monday in Abuja.
His adoption of Lawan as the consensus candidate is against the position of 11 APC northern governors, who had said that power must shift to the South after President Buhari’s tenure.
Adamu told the National Working Committee that he arrived at the choice of the Senate President after consultation with President Muhammadu Buhari.
Earlier, Buhari was reported to have held a closed-door meeting with governors of the All Progressives Congress, APC, from the north at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
This comes amid preparations for 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 governors in attendance were Chairman of Progressive Governors Forum and governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu, chairman of Northern governors Forum and governors of Plateau State, Simeon Lalong, Abubakar Baduru (Jigawa) and Babagana Zulum (Borno).
Others were; 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.
- Sahara Reporters