Efforts by the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to broker a consensus agreement among the presidential aspirants from the North hit the rock on Tuesday as most of the aspirants refused to step down. The meeting, summoned under the auspices of the APC northern caucus and some elders from the North, could not reach any agreement as some of the aspirants failed to turn up but sent representatives. A party source told THISDAY that the meeting was presided over by the Deputy National Chairman (North), Alhaji Lawan Shuaibu, with former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, in attendance. Others at the meeting included Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal. THISDAY gathered that Atiku, who was apparently the only one who attended the meeting out the four presidential aspirants, did not buy into the idea. The former vice-president had earlier opposed consensus arrangement, insisting that the idea of a few persons sitting down to pick a presidential candidate was a flaw process which would deprive the party members of the opportunity to make a choice. Also, other presidential aspirants like the Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, and Sam Nda-Isaiah were said to have excused themselves from the meeting. When Nda-Isaiah was contacted through telephone on Monday on the scheduled meeting, he said he was not aware, adding that the issue of consensus had been put to rest since the party set in motion a process for the emergence of its standard bearer through primary election. “I am not aware of any discussions on consensus. What I know is that all the aspirants are busy perfecting strategies to help them win more delegates votes during the primaries. But this is not to say that I am opposed to initiatives that can put the party in the best stead to win the elections. For me, I will say that I am ready and set for the presidential primaries,” he said. However, the leaders have not given up hope on successfully midwiving a consensus as they have scheduled another round of meeting where hopefully all the northern presidential aspirants would be present. It was learnt that since the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has ceded its presidential ticket to the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and with the president’s acceptance of the offer through his public declaration yesterday, the APC is now more desperate to get its leaders, especially the presidential aspirants to forge a united front. This, according to a source, said was to ensure that intra party crisis does not erupt after the end of the selection process for the presidential candidate. “We need to do everything possible to avoid a rancorous primary election. This is the only way we can match the PDP which had already started rallying support of its members around President Jonathan in readiness for the 2015 contest. APC cannot afford a divided house as this will scuttle its chances of dethroning the PDP,” he said. one-nigeria.org/apc-meeting-on-consensus-presidential-candidate-deadlocked/
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 12:42:51 +0000
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