The hope for the emergence of a consensus
presidential candidate for the All Progressives
Congress has dimmed as efforts by leaders
of the party from the North to broker a deal
failed on Tuesday night.
Only a former Vice-President, Atiku
Abubakar, who is one of the four aspirants
from the region showed up for the meeting
which held at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja.
The others – Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari,
Rabiu Kwankwaso and Sam Nda-Isaiah –
were absent from the parley convened by the
APC Deputy National Chairman (North),
Alhaji Lawali Shuaibu.
When contacted, the Coordinator of the Atiku
Media Office, Garba Shehu, said he was yet
to get the details of the meeting. But he
stated that the position of the former vice-
president on the issue of consensus was
already well known...
Shehu said, “I am yet to be briefed but the
Turaki’s position on this issue is already well
known. He has been meeting with delegates
in preparation for the primaries.”
He also explained that APC had since left the
issue to the aspirants and that to be best of
his knowledge, there had not been any recent
meeting where the presidential aspirants met
to discuss or agree on the emergence of a
consensus candidate.
But the Director of Publicity, Buhari Support
Group Centre, Dr. Chidia Madueke, said the
absence of the former Head of State and
other aspirants from the meeting should not
be misconstrued for lack of interest.
He said, “Caucus meetings are normal at
times like these. Like you rightly pointed out,
it was a caucus meeting, representatives of
the various interests were there, even when
the principals were not there, it does not
diminish the importance of the meeting.
Consensus building is an ongoing thing.”
A highly placed APC member, who was privy
to the Tuesday night meeting, said: “To be
honest with you, the mood among those of
us who attended the meeting did not show
that the consensus thing will work out.
“All the aspirants, even the most vocal
advocates of consensus arrangement, are
preparing for primaries. The party’s
leadership has also set in motion the
machinery for a primary election so, I don’t
see how the issue of consensus can gain
currency at this point.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment