APC Presidential Primary: Buhari may go South, pushes for consensus

President Muhammadu Buhari is almost certain to choose his successor from the southern part of Nigeria as the All Progressives Congress (APC) prepares to hold its Special National Convention next week, to nominate a presidential candidate for the 2023 election.

What is, however, not clear is what part of the south the candidate will come from.

Twelve aspirants have been screened for the APC presidential primary election holding at the Eagle Square, Abuja, between June 6 and 8, 2022.

They are: Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor Yahaya Bello, Governor David Umahi, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Governor Kayode Fayemi, Mrs Uju Kennedy, Mr Tein Jack Rich, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, Mr Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba and Ibikunke Amosun.

Three of the people who have spoken on the matter and claim to be in the know as they have been in close proximity, politically, with President Buhari are highly optimistic the president will look down south for his successor.

“Mr. President is a patriot and knows all the aspirants. Being a patriot, my own haunch is that he’s going to go South; for the interest of the country, for equity and harmony and the reality of the Nigerian state,” said Mr Osita Okechukwu, Director-General of Voice of Nigeria and a chieftain of the APC.

READ: You picked your successors, I will pick mine – Buhari tells APC governors

Okechukwu, however, is not certain which of the zones in the South – South-west, South-east and South-south – the president will settle for to choose a successor.

“Where he will pick from the South, I will not be specific. But if you want me to talk about myself, I will say that if he is going South, that Ndigbo (South-east) should be there. He should pick from there; we have about five or six of them and all of them are qualified,” he said while appearing on a television interview programme.

Senator Joseph Akaagerger, a former Military Administrator of Katsina State, Buhari’s home state, was even more specific on where the next APC presidential candidate will come from.

Akaagerger believes President Buhari will not look beyond the man who has worked with him in the last seven years on the Nigerian project, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

“His chances are high. We know him for the seven years he has been there. He has been deputy and there has not been any rancour between him and his principal,” the retired military officer said of Osinbajo while exhorting his strength and numerous developmental policies he had executed under the Buhari presidency.

Speaking on the issue of consensus candidate, Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa (APC, Bauchi North), gave firm support to Buhari’s quest to nominate a presidential candidate for the APC.

Bulkachuwa, who has just lost his bid to return to the senate, having lost the primary election to Siraj Ibrahim Tanko, one of the sons of the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Tanko Muhammad, said it is within the president’s right to select his successor, just like the governors do at the state level.

He said: “I believe Mr. President is absolutely right on demanding or asking governors and the party to allow him choose his successor, which means he wants to have a consensus candidate to avoid balloting which will split the party.

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“It’s only sensible that Mr. President be allowed to choose somebody he believes would continue with what he has started already.

“I think that is fair because he has started a programme since 2015 and some of these programmes will last until well after his administration.”

The out-going senator said consensus is already part of the nation’s electoral law and had been adopted by the APC in selecting the party’s officers at its National Convention, recently.

He described it as a simple democratic process, saying, “This has been planned and we have tried it during the convention to choose party leaders and it has worked. So, the same thing will happen at the presidential primaries which will come up on the 6^th of June.”

To buttress his argument, Bulkachuwa disclosed that there were withdrawal forms attached to the Expression of Interest and Nomination forms attached to the various electoral offices and every aspirant was meant to execute the withdrawal form as part of the requirements to be nominated for such office.

“There is a particular form for withdrawal and all aspirants were asked to fill it it in, get it sworn before a Commissioner of Oaths, so that when it comes to consensus, one doesn’t need looking for pen and paper to write his withdrawal at the arena.

“So, I don’t think there’s anything undemocratic there. The party’s constitution and the party’s arrangement is all based on this and there is absolute equity,” he said.