…says ‘I won’t allow imposition’
President Muhammadu Buhari says he has no anointed candidate in Tuesday’s presidential primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Buhari dismissed speculations on the matter at a meeting with APC governors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday.
Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, said Buhari cleared all doubts about his stand regarding the choice of a presidential candidate for the ruling APC.
According to Shehu, the President made it clear to the 14 APC governors of Northern states that he had “no preferred candidate,” and has not anointed anyone of the 23 presidential aspirants.
Buhari also expressed his determination to ensure that “there shall be no imposition of any candidate on the party.
“The President said he had a clear mind about what he was doing and asked the APC governors to feel the same way: “You were elected as I was. Have a clear mind as I have. God gave us the chance; we have no reason to complain. We must be ready to take pain as we take the joy. Allow the delegates to decide. The Party must participate, nobody will appoint anybody.”
Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Governor Simon Bako Lalong and Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of the Progressive Governors Forum, in their earlier addresses, affirmed the position of the Northern Governors that the APC presidential candidate shall come from the Southern part of the country.
The governors apologised to the President for the leakage of their signed memorandum which was not in support of any particular candidate, assuring him of their readiness to accept his leadership on the matter.
