A meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC), governors which was held yesterday evening to discuss the stance of President Muhammadu Buhari on the party’s presidential candidate has reportedly ended in a deadlock.
The meeting was held in Abuja, minutes after the APC governors had a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
At the meeting with the president, Buhari told the governors that he would like to pick his successor and wants the governors to support him to do so. The president left for Spain immediately after the meeting.
At their own meeting, one of the governors told newsmen that members could not agree on how to implement the president’s request.
“We believe the president has not settled for any particular person and that is why some governors felt the best thing to do was to nominate two of us (one each from the North and South) to the president for consideration”, the source said.
The source said many northern governors, however, argued that no southern governor could defeat Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, in the presidential election, and therefore, the North should be given preference, adding that this angered some southern governors.
Some of the southern governors also argued that the nominees do not have to be State governors. This position is believed to have been pushed by governors loyal to some southern presidential candidates such as Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and ex-Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Since the governors could not agree, they resolved to end the meeting and reconvene at 8 p.m. yesterday.
