Northern governors kick against choice of Lawan as consensus candidate

As the national convention of the ruling All progressive congress (APC) gathers momentum, governors of the party from the northern part of the country are opposed to the purported adoption of the Senate President Ahmad Lawan as the consensus presidential flagbearer of the party.

A source close to one of the governors maintained that Lawan cannot be forced on the northern governors to adopt during the election of the flagbearer of the party.

Adamu, who faulted the widely held notion that the party had agreed to zone the exalted seat of the presidency to the South, claimed that the party arrived at the choice of Lawan after consultation with President Muhammadu Buhari.

The choice of Lawan incidentally coincided with the meeting by the Northern governors with President Buhari over the issue relating to the adoption of the consensus candidate of the party.

A source, who asked not to be named, assured that the governors would definitely convince President Buhari to adhere to their earlier position on the need to rotate power to the South in the line with the need to ensure fairness and justice in the polity.

“Be rest assured that we will have an elective convention. That is what the delegates want. The governors would not agree to adopt Lawan after their earlier resolution for power shift to the South,” the source noted.

Effort to reach the spokesperson of the party, Felix Morka, on the purported endorsement of Lawan by the party failed to yield results as he did not respond to the issue.

It is believed that members of the APC national working committee (NWC) who are opposed to the adoption of Lawan have demanded the conduct of an elective convention where delegates would be allowed to vote for any of the presidential aspirants of their choice.