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The All Progressives Congress (APC) governors from the North have rejected the choice of Senate President Ahmed Lawan as the consensus presidential candidate of the party.

The National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, was said to have announced Lawan as the consensus candidate, a decision members of the National Working Committee reportedly disagreed with.

In a meeting on Monday with President Muhammadu Buhari, the Northern governors insisted that power should rotate to Southern part of the country in 2023.

The Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum, Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State, briefed State House reporters after the meeting with the president at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

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He said the 13 of them apologised to the president for receiving the information about their position after it was leaked.

The governor, however, said that they took the decision in the interest of justice and peace in the country.

Lalong, who stated that they would hold another meeting by 5pm today among themselves, said the president agreed with their position and maintained that the presidential candidate must emerge through a transparent process.

He said President Buhari told them he did not have an anointed candidate for now and directed them to meet the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to agree on the succession plan.

On the absence of the Governor of Kogi State at the meeting where the power shift decision was taken, he said his colleague was not part of the agreement as his signature was not on the statement.

In his contribution, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State said it was the democratic right of Kogi governor to excuse himself.

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC has announced the President of the Senate and APC Presidential Aspirant- Senator Ahmed Lawan as the consensus candidate of the Party.

It was gathered that Adamu announced this at the meeting of National Working Committee on Monday in Abuja.

Other Presidential aspirants which include Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Engr. David Umahi and others will be allowed to contest the primary election at the convention scheduled to hold tomorrow Tuesday, May 7, 2022 at the Eagle Square, Abuja.

Mainwhile, crisis has hit the All Progressives Congress, APC following the announcement of Senate President Ahmed Lawan as consensus presidential aspirant by the national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.

The NWC members, our correspondent was informed, insisted other aspirants must be given a level playing ground to compete.

Adamu’s adoption of Lawan as consensus candidate is against the position of 11 APC northern governors who endorsed that power must shift to the South after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure.

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Adamu told the National Working Committee that he arrived at the choice of Lawan after consultation with President Buhari.

To ensure Adamu does not cause problems for the party and throw the country into an avoidable political crisis, our correspondent learnt the northern governors are on their way to the Villa to meet with President Buhari to stop the National Chairman from executing his personal agenda in the name of the president.

A former Governor of Ogun State and an elder statesman, Chief Olusegun Osoba has held a midnight South West caucus meeting with presidential aspirants from the region in the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The meeting, according to credible sources, was centered around the need for the Southwest to be united and speak with one voice going into the presidential primary election of the party.

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A source who was privy to discussion at the meeting said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is being persuaded to step down for the National Leader of the Party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“Everything is looking good for Asiwaju (Tinubu). Naturally, the stakeholders are conscious of the fact that the Vice President has the right of first refusal considering the democracy we are practicing.

“However, on the strenght of the peculiarity of the situation, he (Osinbajo) is being persuaded to see the need to step down for Asiwaju.

“There is also the issue of the Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi who is believed to have the backing of some of his colleagues from the North.

“In the next few hours, we wait to see what pans out at the end of the day. But what I know is that we are all on the same page on the need to present a formidable candidate that can square up and defeat Atiku (Abubakar), the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),” the source said.

The Presidential aspirant under the platform of All Progressives Congress APC has claimed that the statement credited to him while he was addressing delegates at Abeokuta in Ogun State was error in translation.

This was contained in a statement released and made available to newsmen as read in part:

“The attention of the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Presidential Campaign Organisation has been drawn to the erroneous, misleading and mischievous interpretation of his address in Abeokuta, capital of Ogun State on Thursday.

“It is on record that the leading presidential aspirant in the forthcoming primaries of the APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu addressed the national delegates of the party in Ogun State , with Governor Dapo Abiodun in attendance.

“In his effort to convince the party delegates to vote for him at the primaries, he went down memory lane to provide specific instances when he brought his political clout and strategic skills to assist individuals, groups and tendencies in the party to gain political power.

“These factual references are already in the public realm.

“They have been reported and analysed in the media in the last eight years.

“While we recognise that recent unexpected interventions in the time table and the heat generated by the proximity of the event might have led to some anxiety, this campaign organisation believes that the main thrust of Asiwaju’s presentation, was that his huge contributions to the formation and electoral success of the APC should count in his favour as a true party man who desires to be the flag bearer.

“There is also no doubt that the fresh conditions proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari for the consideration of a presidential candidate of the party made it necessary for Asiwaju to labour to convince the delegates that he fits the bill.

“The campaign was surprised at the way the opposition and Tinubu’s traducers had turned his statement to give an interpretation Tinubu did not mean and did not say.

At no time did Tinubu play any ethnic card or denigrate any ethnic group. That is surely out of his character, as David Babachir Lawal, attested in his viral whatsApp statement.

Tinubu’s speech in Abeokuta did not demonstrate any disrespect to President Buhari, for whom he has a very high regards and whose re-election campaign he chaired in 2019. The campaign organisation hereby appeals to the media to avoid over-sensationaling issues of facts and play its role of informing the electorate”.