Presidency 2023: Buhari drops consensus, says nobody will appoint anybody

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday dropped the idea of a consensus candidate at the national convention of the ruling All progressives Congress holding in Abuja on Monday and Tuesday. The President at a meeting with northern APC governors at the State House on Monday declared that he has not endorsed or anointed any presidential aspirant as the APC candidate, saying that he has “no preferred candidate,” and has “anointed no one,”. He maintained that the party must participate in the process of choosing a presidential candidate and that nobody will appoint anybody. He insisted that there should be imposition of any candidate on the party.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement in Abuja on Monday indicated that President expressed his position that “there shall be no imposition of any candidate on the party.”

President Buhari was cited to have stated: “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 Lalong of Plateau State, as well as Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State, Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, had disclosed that the northern governors were at the State House to convey the their resolution on the APC national convention and the APC candidate in the 2023 presidential election should come from the South.