… Endorses APC concensus candidate proposal
By Ezeocha Nzeh
As political Parties continue to strategize to outwit each other ahead of the 2023 general elections, Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, has debunked rumours making round that President Muhammadu Buhari entered into an political agreement with leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu to hand over power to him in 2023
Former National Chairman of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change, (CPC), Senator Rufai Hanga, had claimed during an interview with a national daily last Sunday, that there was an agreement between President Buhari and the former Governor of Lagos State where the President agreed to hang over powers to him in 2023, when be must have completed his second term in office
But Okechukwu, a renowned Buhari follower, while debunking the claim by Hanga, “told journalists on Thursday in Abuja that “as a member of the defunct CPC, I never heard of such an agreement and most importantly Mr President is not wont to or better put rarely enters into any formal or informal agreement with anybody. But he appreciates good deeds.”
“All I know was that Asiwaju automatically could have been the Vice President if not for what lawyers will call force majeure. For our leadership warned against Muslim/Muslim ticket. Our leadership then argued that the Abiola/Kingibe Muslim/Muslim ticket which worked in 1993 may not work in 2015, if Buhari/Tinubu both Muslims were to run, as the scenario differs. That was how Asiwaju nominated Professor Yemi Osinbajo, GCON as a replacement.”
The APC stakeholder also described the party’s National Caretaker and Extra Ordinary Convention Planning Committee position on the APC settling for peaceful concensus candidates in their elections, stating that the ideas these approach to picking a credible candidate for elections
It could be recalled that Senator John Akpanudoehede, National Secretary, APC Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), stated in a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja that the adoption of the use of a consensus is one that is bound to upset permutations by some pundits who are hoping that with 22 governors, majority parliamentarians at national and state levels and uncountable presidential hopefuls that the APC will definitely implode.
Akpanudoedehe’s statement was in reaction to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) recent allegation that President Muhammadu Buhari had a self-succession plan. The APC scribe, however, stressed that the party would not allow individual ambitions to derail the Buhari administration, ahead of the 2023 presidential poll.
“After our congresses and the National Convention, we will shock them (PDP) by bringing a consensus and an agreeable candidate that will fly the flag of the party come 2023. APC has no third term agenda like PDP. What we are doing now is to stabilise the party and not allow individual ambitions to derail President Buhari’s administration,” he said in responding to the claims of the PDP.” The CECPC secretary stated
Expressing his endorsement of the APC position on concensus candidate, the VON DG stated, “One slept well last night after reading the profound statement from the social media credited to Distinguished Senator John Akpanudedehe, our National Secretary that at the appropriate time APC will come up with a consensus and agreeable presidential candidate that will fly its flag in 2023. I hail the consensus proposal for it is a deft move which will perish the phobia of implosion of our great party as touted by some naysayers.”
Asked whether the adoption of consensus is bound to be like a double-edged sword for notable aspirants such as the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whom Senator Rufai Hanga narrated in a national newspaper interview had an agreement with President Buhari to succeed him, Okechukwu stated further, “First it is refreshing that President Buhari is not for 3rd Term AgendaSecond, in my slightest imagination one doesn’t think any committee handling such delicate matter will miss out our national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the matrix. Methinks, he will be among the top aspirants to be considered, given his immense contribution to the success of our great party in 2015.”
