President Muhammadu has met with the All Progressive Congress’s 23 presidential aspirants.
The President is attempting to heal the party’s fractures caused by competing interests in selecting its presidential candidate.
According to our State House correspondents, journalists have been denied access to the meeting.
The presidential primary election for the party is set for the 6th of this month.
Meanwhile, northern governors of the party want President Muhammadu Buhari to pick a southern winner.
In a statement on Saturday, the governors asked northern presidential candidates to withdraw from the race in the national interest, allowing only southern candidates to advance to the primaries.
It was revealed that Jigawa state governor Abubakar Badaru had withdrawn from the race.
The decision was made after they met to review the political situation and to further support our Party in providing progressive leadership amidst our national challenges, according to the statement signed by Aminu Bello Masari, governor of Katsina state; Abubakar Sani Bello, governor of Niger; Abdullahi Sule, governor of Nasarawa; Babagana Zulum, governor of Borno; and Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna.
Others are Gombe governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, Zamfara governor Bello Matawalle, Plateau governor Simon Lalong, Kano governor Abdullahi Ganduje, and Kebbi governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu.
“After careful deliberation, we wish to state our firm conviction that after eight years in office of President Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the APC for the 2023 elections should be one of our teeming members from the southern states of Nigeria.”
It is a matter of honour for the APC…we affirm that adhering to this principle is in the interests of building a stronger, more united, and more progressive country,” the statement read.
The governors stated that they want the party to make the 2023 elections a moment of nation-building.
Abdullah Bello/Saadatu Albashir
