There has been a discussion about coming up with a consensus candidate ahead of Tuesday’s special convention for its presidential primary election by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Abubakar Kyari, vice-chairman (North) of the party, on Monday in Abuja, said discussions on the issue continued at the house of Abdullahi Adamu, the party’s national chairman.
Mr Kyari spoke to journalists at the end of a closed-door meeting between governors elected on the party’s platform and members of its National Working Committee (NWC) at the party’s national secretariat.
When asked if the party had come up with a consensus candidate, Mr Kyari said, “The discussion continues tonight at the house of the party’s national chairman.”
He explained that the possibility of the party coming up with a consensus candidate before the primaries, could therefore not be ruled out.
No fewer than 2,340 delegates from the 774 local government areas in the country and area councils in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are expected to vote at the APC presidential primary.
The delegates are expected to cast their votes to pick a presidential candidate for the APC ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Though 23 presidential aspirants bought the party’s presidential Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms, 13 were cleared by the John Odigie-Oyegun presidential screening committee.
President Muhammadu Buhari, at a dinner with the party’s presidential aspirants on Saturday, backed the rotation of power to the South in 2023. APC national leader Bola Tinubu, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Governor Kayode Fayemi and ex-Governor Ibikunle Amosun are presidential aspirants from the South seeking to clinch the APC presidential ticket.
This limited the number of aspirants that would be contesting the party’s 2023 presidential ticket at the primary to those from the South if a consensus candidate is not picked.
Eleven governors from the North had in a statement on Saturday, announced their decision to support a power shift to the South after the end of the tenure of Mr Buhari.
The governors, while urging presidential aspirants from the North to step down from the 2023 presidential race, said, ”the decision to support power shift to the South is in the best interest of the country.”
The party’s convention will hold at the Abuja Eagle Square.
