Thirteen governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the North, on Monday, insisted that the presidential ticket of the party must go to the South.
The governors revealed this shortly after meeting with the President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The governors said they stand by their decision to zone the party’s presidential ticket to the South.
Recall that after their meeting on Saturday night, the Northern governors asked the ruling party to zone its presidential ticket to the South.
They also asked aspirants from the northern region to withdraw from the race.
According to a communiqué signed after the meeting, the governors said: “After a careful deliberation, we wish to state our firm conviction that after eight years in the 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 question of honour for the APC, an obligation that is not in any way affected by the decisions taken by another political party.”
Speaking on behalf of his collegaues, Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, regretted that the communiqué from the meeting got leaked to the public before they officially informed the President of their resolution.
He, however, noted that the governors had to inform the President in person as part of last-minute preparations for tomorrow’s primary elections.
Asked why their Kogi State counterpart, Yahaya Bello, who was also buying for the presidential seat was absent from the meeting, Kaduna State Government, Nasir El-Rufai said it was not compulsory for all 14 of them to agree on the southern ticket.
According to him, Bello had excused himself from the meeting with the President because he rejected the resolution made by the governors.
El-Rufai argued that 13 out of 14 governors are enough to front the agenda for a southern candidate.
This would be the fourth in a series of meetings between Buhari and party stakeholders ahead of tomorrow’s Presidential Primary election to be held at Eagle Square, Abuja.
Those in attendance include Abubakar Bagudu ( Kebbi); Simon Lalong (Plateau); Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa); Aminu Masari (Katsina); Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa); Bello Matawalle (Zamfara); Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Abubakar Bello ( Niger); Yahaya Inuwa (Gombe); Babagana Zulum (Borno), Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna) and AbdulRahman Abdulrazaq (Kwara).
