Southern govs to Buhari, APC: Consensus candidate must come from south

Southern governors on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), have told President Muhammadu Buhari and the party leadership they must pick a consensus presidential candidate from the south if the APC is to win the 2023 presidential election.

The Southern Nigeria Governors’ Forum position followed President Buhari’s request to APC governors and other stakeholders in the party to allow him choose his successor from among the 23 presidential aspirants seeking to fly the APC flag in the 2023 election.

Recall that Buhari, during his meeting with the APC governors on Monday, asked them for reciprocity and support to decide the flag bearer of the party for the election into the office of president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2023.

In a reaction to the request, on Thursday, the Southern Nigeria Governors’ Forum urged the president to support rotational APC presidency by allowing the consensus presidential candidate to come from Southern Nigeria. It warned that it could be dangerous for the APC and Nigeria not rotate power between North and South of the country.

Read also: APC: Waiting for Buhari’s anointed one

Speaking on behalf of his colleague governors, Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State and the chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum, insisted that the APC must be ready to rotate power if it must win in 2023, adding that the presidential power should be rotated to the south.

Governor Akeredolu, who re-echoed the position of his colleagues on his personal Facebook Account Page @ Rotimi Akeredolu Aketi on Thursday, said, “APC must work to retain power. We must rotate power to retain power. Rotate to the South. Shikena.”

Meanwhile, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, one of the APC presidential aspirants from the south and former governor of Lagos State, has begun last-minute consultations with delegates, party leaders and stakeholders ahead of the APC presidential primaries slated for June 6-8, 2022.

According to a press release from Kunle Somorin, chief press secretary to Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, Tinubu would be having a consultative meeting with Governor Abiodun’s cabinet members, APC delegates, party leaders and other stakeholders at the Presidential Lodge in Abeokuta, the state capital.