The Director-General of the Yemi Osinbajo Campaign Organisation, Senator Kabiru Gaya, says the list of Presidential aspirants in the All Progressives Congress has been trimmed to just two – Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and former Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos State even as he stated that three aspirants had stepped down. Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State had earlier in the day confirmed that a shortlist of five aspirants had been sent to President Muhammadu Buhari for consideration. The five aspirants were identified as Tinubu, Osinbajo, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, his Ebonyi State counterpart, Dave Umahi; and the immediate past Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi. However, Gaya, who represents Kano-South senatorial district, told Channels Television that the list has now been trimmed to two. He also claimed that three Presidential aspirants had stepped down for the Vice-President. However, the senator failed to identify the three aspirants, only claiming that former Senate President Ken Nnamani who stepped down on Monday did so in honour of Osinbajo. Gaya stated, “We have Vice-President Osinbajo and Bola Tinubu. I am aware that some aspirants have stepped down for Osinbajo. Nnamani and two others have stepped down for Osinbajo.” Although The PUNCH could not independently verify this claim, Nnamani had while withdrawing from the race, lamented the political marginalisation of the South-East.

  The names of five presidential aspirants on the platform of the All Progressives Congress submitted to the President Muhammadu Buhari as most preferred by northern governors have been rejected by seven presidential aspirants. This was contained in a joint statement on Tuesday by the aggrieved aspirants.. This was contained in a joint statement on Tuesday by the aggrieved aspirants. The aspirants are Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade; former Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba; former Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu; former Governor Rochas Okorocha and businessman Tein Jack-Rich. According to them, they were not consulted before the northern governors arrived at the decision. The names submitted to Buhari are former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu; a former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi; Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi and Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo. The statement read in part, “In the past few hours we have been bombarded with calls and messages from our supporters and concerned Nigerians on a list of five presidential aspirants submitted to President Buhari to choose from. “As long as we are concerned no list has been submitted to Mr. President, the move by the Governors is considered a joke taken to the extreme with the aim of playing with the intellect of Nigerians particularly us from the South-East. “Mr President’s directive is very simple, that all presidential aspirants including those from the North should meet and harmonise in order to produce a single candidate. As it stands we have not been consulted or attended a meeting where it was agreed that such names be sent to Mr President.” The aggrieved aspirants lamented that in out of the five names on the list, only one was selected from the South-East, adding that it was not fair and just. The statement added, “What the governors have done is a mere picnic in the park. These are the same governors talking about Equity, justice and fairness yet in a clandestine manner purportedly sidelined the South East. “In the absence of any harmonised agreement no list has been submitted to Mr. President, what they have done is just nothing but a charade which is bound to fail. “We also have it on good authority that the majority of these Governors have been promised and also given various forms of gratifications in order to thwart the process in favour of one aspirant and such grand plot will fail woefully. “Moreso, the party led by Senator Abdullahi Adamu remains the official organ of the party through which decisions taken by stakeholders in the party will be communicated and acted upon, in the absence of that any other move remains null and void. “We urge all well-meaning Nigerians to disregard such information, as we remain in the race hence no consensus agreement has been reached amongst all contestants. “The names, according to the source, included that of the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti State), Rotimi Amaechi, former Minister of Transportation, and Governor Dave Umahi (Ebonyi State). “The governors after meeting with the President said they will return to the villa after meeting with the party’s National Working Committee and other stakeholders. “They picked one from South-East, one from South-South and three from South-West geopolitical zones in line with their position that power should shift to the South.”

  The Center for Innovative and Pragmatic Development Initiative (CIPDI) has called on Nigeria’s political parties and their governorship candidates across the states, to consider nominating women as running mates. The call by the President of the Centre, Mr Ifeanyi Nwanoro in a statement on Tuesday, is coming as flag bearers of the parties have emerged and electioneering about to commence. “We must learn to groom and mentor the next generation of Leaders to move our country forward. “Our elites need to create opportunities for women, and youths to rise and shine; and women and youths need to engage actively in governance and electoral processes. “We are calling on all the serving governors and the chieftains of all the political parties to prevail on the male guber candidates to pick women as their running mates. “If the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Progressives Congress (APC), the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and scores of others, who have men flying their party flags pick women as running mates, whichever party that wins come 2023, we will have a woman Deputy Governor. “We are counting on His Excellency Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi the executive Governor of Enugu state, who started the trend to take the lead on this advocacy for more women deputy Governors. “We also call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to keep voter registration open, because we have people turning 18 every day, and this will give them the opportunity to register to vote,” the statement reads.

  A section of delegates has demanded the immediate resignation of All Progressives Congress (APC) National chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu. Adamu announced Senate President Ahmad Lawan as the “consensus candidate” ahead of APC presidential primary on Tuesday. But outraged NWC members dismissed the statement as “your personal opinion”. Reacting, many said Adamu’s antics showed that he is working overzealously for “a small cabal including few shadowy but influential figures at the Presidency whose stock in trade is to drop the name of President Buhari, who is a worthy and highly principled leader, in pursuit of their nefarious agenda.” According to them, Adamu now constitutes a “clear and present danger to continued existence of APC as a corporate entity”, capable of subverting Nigeria’s democratic processes. “By this show of shame, Adamu has clearly shown that he is not fit to preside over APC. It is shameful that a man rehabilitated from political penury in March by President Buhari who made him National Chairman by consensus can now be trying to destroy the same party within three months,” said Mohammed Argugu, a delegate from Sokoto State. Another delegate, Ms. Bintu Ibrahim from Niger State, said: “I no longer have confidence in Adamu to continue as APC Chairman.” APC’ National Vice Chairman of North-West, Dr. Salihu Lukman, condemned Adamu’s “autocratic leadership style” by making weighty public statement in the name of APC without consultation with fellow NWC members. Also, self-styled “leader of reformed APC”, Alhaji Buba Galadima, described Adamu as “a political snake” who once stabbed President Buhari in the back in 2003 as Governor of Nasarawa State. Galadima, now estranged from Buhari, said “If President Buhari is someone who remembers past evil against, he would not even be shaking hands with Adamu today, much less make him APC Chairman given the very wicked thing he did against Buhari while Buhari was the presidential flagbearer of ANPP and Adamu the sitting governor of Nasarawa.” At a meeting of the NWC meeting at the weekend, a source said the National Secretary, Senator Iyiola Omisore, angrily upbraided the chairman “for treating the rest of us as if we are children.” According to multiple sources at today’s NWC meeting, Adamu had defended his position as the outcome of “my consultation with President Muhammadu Buhari”. But President Buhari denied ever anointing Lawan as “consensus candidate” according to a statement by his spokesman Shehu Garba. It was further gathered that the President was livid when news reached him that Adamu had announced Lawan in his name. Adamu’s lie was further exposed by a declaration by 13 northerner APC Governors reiterating their earlier resolution that power should shift to the South after the tenure of President Buhari next year. The northern Governors spoke after a closed-door meeting with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa today. Flanked by other northerner Governors inside the Press Gallery of the Villa, Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State said: “Majority of us APC governors from the north have agreed that power should go to the South after President Buhari. This is the position we support.” El Rufai’s words were echoed by the immediate past Acting National Chairman of the party, Governor Buni of Yobe State, who said “That is the position of we northern governors.” Ironically, Lawan who is Adamu’s own “consensus candidate” hails from Yobe State.

  President Muhammadu Buhari has stated his position of how the presidential flag bearer of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) should emerge, saying he has no anointed candidate.   The President, who spoke while meeting with APC Governors of the party from the north, said no one would be allowed to impose a candidate on the party. He insisted delegates would determine the fate of the aspirants. The Governors visited the Buhari as part of last-minute efforts at deciding the nature and route the presidential convention would take. The Governors, who were led to the meeting by the chairman of Norther Governors Forum and governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, however restated their resolve to see the party rotating its presidential ticket to the South. Buhari, according to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, told the Governor he has “no preferred candidate” and has “anointed no one” and is determined to ensure that “there shall be no imposition of any candidate on the party”. The Buhari said the party is important and its members must be respected, and made to feel they are important. The President said he had a clear mind about what he was doing and asked the APC Governors to feel the same way “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 Bako Lalong and Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of the Progressive Governors Forum, said they had come to affirm the position of the Northern Governors that the party’s candidate in the presidential election shall come from the southern part of the country. They apologised to the President for the leakage of their signed memorandum which was not in support of any particular candidate and gave assurances to the President on their readiness to accept his leadership on the matter. Disclosing the outcome of their meeting with the President while speaking to State House Correspondents, the governors said they restated their call for the rotation of the presidential ticket of the party to the south, affirming that it was their decision, which they were standing by. “We had a meeting this afternoon with the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, our dear President Muhammadu Buhari and this meeting is also in line with part of the consultations that Mr. President had. Of course, Mr. President had a meeting with us governors and series of people, but at the APC Northern Governors’ Forum, we sat down, we reviewed a lot of things in this country and we discussed at length about the unity of this country, about the need for progress and the need for inclusiveness, and also the need for accommodation. “We sat down in the last few days and 13 out of 14 governors agreed. We took a decision to go and advise Mr. President. While we were on our way to advise Mr. President, I think part of the discussions that we had leaked out to the press. Well, we still went ahead and we told Mr. President. Mr. President, being a democrat, said no, he must listen to us, he would listen to us. And so, Mr. President granted the opportunity today. “Our mission today is to reaffirm our position on that statement. We also apologized to him that that statement was made by all of us and we reaffirm the position, but we apologized that the probe the statement leaked out before even our consultations with him. “I am sure this may be the last of consultations. So, we are directed that after this, our chairman of Progressive Governors’ Forum has also summoned a meeting for five o’clock today and after that meeting, we’ll make again further suggestions to Mr. President. “For emphasis, those of you who read it, I have a copy of what we wrote, which was already out of press, and I said we wrote it and we stand by it; that in the interest of unity, in the interests of peace, we recommended that and also justice, our recommendation is that the next President should come from the south”, he said. Explaining the reason for the absence of the Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, from the meeting, the Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufa’i, explained that the presidential aspirant/governor did not agree with the norther APC governor’s position. “We met before coming to meet with Mr. President, we met all of us, including the governor of Kogi State. As you can see, he’s not the only aspirant, the governor of Jigawa State is also an aspirant and he’s here with us and we met. But the governor of Kogi State chose to excuse himself from meeting with Mr. President because he believes that he does not agree with our position. “There are 14 APC governors out of the 19 Northern states. 13 of us are on one page on this subject and we all came to see the President, but the governor of Kogi State excused himself and it is within his democratic rights to excuse himself. But 12 out of 14 is a supermajority. 13 out of 14 is an even bigger supermajority and the 13 of us met with the President today. What our leader has communicated to you is a summary of the discussions with Mr. President”, he said. The governors in attendance are Chairman of Progressive Governors Forum and governor of Kebbi state, Atiku Bagudu, chairman of Northern governors Forum and governor of Plateau State, Simeon Lalong, Abubakar Baduru (Jigawa) and Babagana Zulum (Borno). Others are Aminu Bello Masari (Katsina), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Bello Matawale (Zamfara), Mallam Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Yahaya Inuwa (Gombe), Abubakar Bello (Niger), Abdulrahman Abdulrazak (Kwarra) and the Yobe

  The National Working Committee(NWC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) has backed Northern Governors of the party on power shift to the South. Northern Governors on Monday insisted on power shift after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari. This was despite the announcement of Senate President Ahmad Lawan as the preferred aspirant of the President Muhammadu Buhari by APC National Chairman Senator Abdullahi Adamu. Adamu made the announcement at the NWC meeting of the party in Abuja. But APC Organisjng Secretary, Suleiman M Argungu, has said the choice of Lawan is simply Adamu’s opinion. He said the NWC supports the position of Northern APG Govs on power shift . He said the choice of Senate President Ahmed Lawan as consensus aspirant is not the position of the NWC but just an opinion of the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu. “It is just an information given by the chairman. The NWC is with the Northern Govs on power shift to the South,” Argungun said. Details Shortly…

  Ken Nnamani, former senate president, has pulled out of the race to secure the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The former lawmaker announced his withdrawal during a meeting with journalists in Abuja on Monday. He said: “In the present circumstances, it does not make any sense for me to continue in the race as I have not had the opportunity to market my profile and ideas to the delegates of our party in a manner that allow for deliberation and introspection. “Therefore, I discontinue my aspiration and wish the party successful primary and unity of purpose so that we can win the 2023 general elections. “I will continue to engage with the party and its leadership to make sure that the ideas and values that I cherish and propagate find strong footing in the party administration and in public leadership after election.”