President’s Successor: Disquiet In APC Over Buhari’s Statement LATEST NEWSTOP NEWS

 DISQUIET, on Wednesday, pervaded among presidential hopefuls over the statement by President Muhammadu Buhari, asking the governors to give him the privilege to endorse a candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

While some faulted the president for making such demand, others believed he was probably quoted out of context by the media, since the issue is all about democracy and freedom of choice.

Buhari was said to have sought the indulgence of APC governors to pick his successor as the candidate of the party for 2023, during a meeting with them on Tuesday.

The president endorsed Senator Abdullahi Adamu from among 25 chairmanship aspirants to pave the way for his emergence as substantive national chairman during the October 2020 convention of the party.

No fewer than 23 presidential hopefuls had been screened ahead of the presidential primary of the party coming up from June 6 to 7 in Abuja.

A national coordinator of one of the leading aspirants who pleaded to remain anonymous told Nigerian Tribune on Wednesday that the statement came as a surprise to many, against the background of the process that threw up the president to contest and win past general election.

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The source stressed that the president went through primary election against other contestants to emerge as the standard-bearer of the APC in its formative year in 2015, although he was the sole candidate of the party in 2019.

He added that Buhari’s statement was against the grains of democracy which places premium on the provision of a level-playing field for all eligible individuals in a political party. However, the top party member, a former state commissioner, said the president was probably quoted out of context by “some detractors in the bid to compound the seeming confusion in the APC over the process that would lead to choice of its presidential candidate.

He claimed that some elements in and outside the APC were orchestrating that the emergence of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as the candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had thrown spanner into the works of the ruling party in the search for a candidate that could march him.

Another top notch of the APC said though the party members are looking up to the president for leadership, with few days to the primary, they believed he could still provide the chance for all key stakeholders to decide who becomes the standard-bearer of APC.

He believed the statement of the president had “heightened the suspense over the race for the ticket of the party because of the fear of imposition of the president’s likely preferred choice.

But a principal officer in the support group of an other aspirant said the view expressed by the president might be majorly directed at the governors due to their awesome influence within the APC on the need for them to avoid undue sentiments in the drive to determine APC standard-bearer.

He said the caution was necessary because the governors could decide to unite and insist on one of their own in the contest being put forward as the preferred choice for the ticket. The source called for due process and popular mode of primary, recalling,

“We voted till 7.00 p.m. the next day during the presidential primary that produced President Muhammad Buhari as APC candidate. How do He believed the statement of the president had “heightened the suspense over the race for the ticket of the party because of the fear of imposition of the president’s likely preferred choice.

But a principal officer in the support group of an other aspirant said the view expressed by the president might be majorly directed at the governors due to their awesome influence within the APC on the need for them to avoid undue sentiments in the drive to determine APC standard-bearer.

He said the caution was necessary because the governors could decide to unite and insist on one of their own in the contest being put forward as the preferred choice for the ticket. The source called for due process and popular mode of primary, recalling,

“We voted till 7.00 p.m. the next day during the presidential primary that produced President Muhammad Buhari as APC candidate. How do

you want those that willingly obtained nomination and expression of interest forms to subject themselves to an other set of rules of engagement?”

He alleged that some forces were behind the back-and-forth movement in the party over the coming primary, “because of the fear that certain candidates could cruise to victory!

He said while all genuine party members are looking up to Buhari to “offer the necessary guide; no attempt should be encouraged to checkmate aspirants by whipping up sentiments.

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In the meantime, a group, the APC National Stakeholders, has frowned on the president’s pronouncement which they noted was inimical to the ruling party’s fortune at the next elections.

Addressing newsmen on Wednesday, national convener of the forum, Aliyu Audu, said his group is afraid the party was about to be stripped of the right to pick a formidable candidate ahead of the 2023 general election. He recalled that the process that threw up Senator Abdullahi Adamu

created bad blood, as chieftains who were forced to step down believed they were treated

unfairly.

Short of accusing Buhari of insincerity, Audu said

his position that governors should allow him to pick his anointed choice went contrary to his earlier assurances that he would allow a level playing field for all aspirants.

He said: “In a January 6, 2022 interview with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), the president stated clearly that he would not play the role of a kingmaker in the choice of his successor

and any other elective office, just as he stated that he tried about three times to contest for president before he emerged, and so anyone that wants to become the next president should also work for it.

“Barely a month ago, while fielding questions from journalists after observing the Eid-el-Fitr prayers in Abuja, the president equally said that he had no favourite candidate for the 2023 presidential election. Instead, he said the one who would succeed him is the person that Nigerians elect.

“Our understanding of this statement is that the Nigerian he referred to include members of the APC elected through direct or indirect process to fly the flag of the party in the general election:

The group appealed to President Buhari to retrace his steps, noting that imposition of presidential candidate is anti-democratic and could undermine his promise to inspire confidence in the electoral process.

“The best legacy President Muhammad Buhari can leave for the APC and Nigeria as a whole is that of a deeply entrenched democratic process where Nigerians can freely choose who

represents them at whatever level in free, fair, credible and transparent processes.

“This legacy must manifest from the All Progressives Congress which prides itself as a party with progressive ideals different from the other stocks. If the so called ‘established internal policies’ of succession in the party fulfills all democratic criteria, we would not be having as much crisis in the party as we have witnessed in recent times.

“As we speak, the ongoing primary election of the party across the country, which ought to have been concluded, are still subject

of infighting in a number of places. Is this the kind of legacy the president wants to leave behind?

“As someone who came in through a free, fair and credibly contested democratic process in 2015 and also won re-election through

the same process in 2019, the president must not only ensure that this standard is maintained, he must keep to his own words and advice as vividly expressed in the January 6 interview on the Nigeria Television Authority that the APC must conducts itself properly and allow the system to work,” he said.

He added that if the process of electing the candidate is flawed, so much as to leave members disenchanted, the party is already on its way to losing the election. Let delegates choose your successor, APC NWC member tells Buhari

The immediate past Director General of the Progressive Governors’ Forum and national vice chairman.