The Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu has insisted that the comment of the National Chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu that the party has picked Ahmed Lawan as a consensus candidate is an expensive joke.
Akeredolu stated this in a statement on Monday night, on behalf of the Southern Governors Forum of Nigeria.
This also comes as the Party’s NWC also insisted that it has not been briefed on a consensus candidate, citing the Northern Governors’ insistence on a Southern presidential candidate.
My attention has just been drawn to the expensive joke purportedly enacted by the National Chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu. The speculation is rife that the Chairman took a flight of fancy and decided to make a pronouncement beyond his competence. pic.twitter.com/roNH0nMV2i
— Arakunrin Akeredolu (@RotimiAkeredolu) June 6, 2022
What the governor is saying
Akeredolu in his statement said, “My attention has just been drawn to the expensive joke purportedly enacted by the National Chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.
“The speculation is rife that the Chairman took a flight of fancy and decided to make a pronouncement beyond his competence.”
He stated that the Chairman, allegedly, made public his preferred choice as the candidate of the APC for the Office of the President in the next general elections, warning that the alleged pronouncement runs contrary to the position of the majority of Northern Governors in APC and their counterparts in the South.
“Our agreement is unanimous on this issue. The office of the President should be contested for by qualified persons from the Southern part of the country if the move to get a consensus candidate fails. There has been no shift from this settled issue.
“Let it be known that the Chairman or anyone who holds a contrary opinion does so at a personal level. He is at best embarking on a frolic which reasonable people will consider dangerous.
“We are grieving but have not forgotten that Power MUST shift to the south. On this we stand,” he added.
In case you missed it
- The Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, at the meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) on Monday in Abuja, announced that the party had chosen Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, as the consensus presidential candidate.
- The Northern Governors under the All Progressive Congress (APC) platform have insisted that they still stand by their earlier decision to have the party’s presidential ticket zoned to the Southern part of the country.
- This was made known by the governors through a communique signed shortly before a last-minute consultation with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where they said that they still support power shift to the south after 8 years of President Buhari in office.
