Politics

CHECKED: How Adamu’s plot to impose Lawan on APC presidential aspirants failed

Published

4 years ago

June 7, 2022

admin

An attempt by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Adamu, to select Senate President Ahmad Lawan – a northerner – as the preferred candidate of the APC, failed on Monday as both the Presidency and 12 northern governors of the party openly distanced themselves from the move.

Adamu had summoned a meeting of the 25-member National Working Committee at the party’s headquarters in Abuja ahead of the presidential primary slated for Tuesday (today).

At the meeting, Adamu informed the NWC that Lawan was the anointed candidate of the party, a move which was not accepted by all of the members.

It was gathered that the national chairman insisted the choice of Lawan was arrived at after due consultation with President Muhammadu Buhari.

After the meeting, Adamu hurriedly jumped into his vehicle and zoomed off.

The APC’s stand on Monday threatened the hope of the South to produce the next president as a northerner, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, on May 28 got the presidential ticket of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party after defeating southern aspirants including the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, and the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel.

But northern governors in the APC, at their meeting on Saturday night, raised the hope of the South when they insisted that the presidential candidate of the party should emerge from the southern part of the country.

Adamu’s plot to impose Lawan was on Monday greeted by a groundswell of opposition from some NWC members, northern governors and other presidential aspirants.

Moments after the NWC meeting, about seven members led by the National Organising Secretary of the APC, Suleman Argungu, told journalists at the party secretariat that Lawan was not the preferred candidate of the party.

Argungu stated, “We want to state that the pronouncement of Lawan as the consensus candidate was the chairman’s opinion and he is entitled to his opinion. It is not the position of the party.”

Others who supported Argungu were the National Vice Chairman (North-West), Salihu Lukman; Deputy National Chairman (South), Isaac Kekemeke; the National Youth Leader, Dayo Israel.

Amid the commotion, 12 northern governors emerged from a meeting with the President at the Presidential Villa where they stated that the President had confirmed to them that he had no preferred candidate.

The governors said they stood by their decision to zone the party’s presidential ticket to the South, a move which angered Kogi State Governor and Presidential aspirant, Yahaya Bello.

According to a communiqué issued after the meeting, the governors said, “After 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 the governors, Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Simon Lalong of Plateau State regretted that the communiqué from the earlier meeting, where they endorsed power shift, had 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.

“Mr. President, as a believer in democratic process, believes that any candidate must emerge through a transparent process and the emphasis that Mr. President told us that for this election, for now, he has no anointed candidate and therefore directed that the Progressive Governors Forum meet with the National Working Committee of the party to agree and proffer further solutions and recommendations for his own succession.”

Asked why their Kogi State counterpart was absent from the meeting, a distraught Governor Nasir El-Rufai (of Kaduna) 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 yeses are enough to front the agenda for a southern candidate.

“We all met before coming to meet with Mr. President, including the governor of Kogi State. As you can see, he’s not the only aspirant, the governor of Jigawa State is also an aspirant and he’s here with us and we met.

“But the governor of Kogi State chose to excuse himself from meeting with Mr. President because he believes that he does not agree with our position. There are 14 APC governors out of the 19 northern states. The 13 of us are on one page on this subject and we all came to see the President, but the governor of Kogi State excused himself and it is within his democratic rights to excuse himself. But 12 out of 14 is a super majority. 13 out of 14 is an even bigger super majority and the 13 of us met with the President today,” he said.

El-Rufai argued that the governors do not need a 100 per cent agreement rate to proceed with their decision.

On his part, the Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum, Atiku Bagudu, accused the main opposition of ignoring the south and throwing open its Presidential ticket, despite having zoning in its constitution.

According to him, the APC will look out for the interest of the South in its considerations.

“Remember, the main opposition party PDP, they even have zoning in their constitution. But when it came to the selection of candidates, they ignored sections of Nigeria that are saying it’s our turn. In our party, we don’t even have zoning in our constitution, but knowing our president, how magnanimous he is, we felt comfortable to make a recommendation to him that even though we don’t have zoning, Mr. President, can we consider this?” Bagudu explained.

Other northern governors in attendance were: Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), Aminu Masari (Katsina) Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa) Bello Matawalle (Zamfara) Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Abubakar Bello (Niger), Yahaya Inuwa (Gombe), Babagana Zulum (Borno) and AbdulRahman Abdulrazaq (Kwara).

Agreeing with the governors, Buhari in a statement afterwards said he had not anointed any of the presidential aspirants.

This was as he said the party’s delegates would decide the outcome of Tuesday’s primary elections.

According to a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity, Garaba Shehu, Buhari spoke at a meeting with 12 Northern APC Governors at the State House, Abuja, saying he has “no preferred candidate,” and has “anointed no one.”

The statement is titled ‘I have anointed no one, there shall be no imposition, says president Buhari’.

While noting that he is determined to ensure that “there shall be no imposition of any candidate on the party,” Buhari said the party is important and its members must be respected, and made to feel they are important.

The President said he had a clear mind about what he was doing and asked the APC governors to feel the same way: “You were elected as I was. Have a clear mind as I have. God gave us the chance; we have no reason to complain. We must be ready to take pain as we take the joy. Allow the delegates to decide. The Party must participate, nobody will appoint anybody.”

The Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, through his Special Adviser on Political Communications, Alhaji Bashir Adigun, told The PUNCH there was no going back on the southern Presidency.

Adigun said, “We have been inundated with enquiries on whether our Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq supports the resolution of Northern leaders on power shift to southern Nigeria.

“We like to state emphatically that the governor was ab initio fully part of the meeting and resolution of the northern leaders that the next President should come from southern part of the country.

“The governor could not immediately sign the resolution of the meeting because he was at his niece’s wedding held on Saturday June 4,2022 where he was the Chief Host”.

Related Topics:2023 PRESIDENCY ABDULLAHI ADAMU APC PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

Up Next

D-DAY: Tinubu projected to win APC presidential race

Don't Miss

Father shot dead by two-year-old son in US

Click to comment

Politics

2027: Peter Obi not a threat to Tinubu, says Sunday Dare

Published

2 weeks ago

June 28, 2026

admin

Sunday Dare, special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on media and public communications, has dismissed talks that the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, poses a political threat to the Tinubu administration, insisting that the government remains focused on delivering on its mandate.

Dare, while speaking during an interview on the Mic On Podcast, said the administration was confident in its achievements and ongoing reforms, arguing that its performance had strengthened its political standing ahead of the 2027 general elections.

According to him, the government has carefully assessed the country’s challenges and is implementing policies aimed at addressing them.

“This government is not afraid of Peter Obi. He is not a nightmare to our government. Maybe before, Peter Obi was a threat, but right now, he is no threat because we stand on the solid ground of performance,” Dare said.

He added, “We have been able to interrogate the problems of this country. Decisions are being taken, policies are being unfolded across the country, and we have a scorecard to show.”

Dare also criticised Obi’s public comments and media appearances, describing some of his responses to questions as lacking clarity.

“Peter Obi is not a nightmare. Maybe you replace nightmare with nuisance because if you see some of his reactions, they are very pedantic. Sometimes you wonder. You listen to some of his interviews, ask him a question, and he goes in a roundabout direction that does not make sense,” he said.

Commenting on the 2027 presidential election, Dare expressed confidence that Obi would not replicate his performance in Lagos, where the former Labour Party presidential candidate defeated Tinubu during the 2023 presidential election.

“Peter Obi defeated President Tinubu in Lagos in 2023. This is 2027; he can’t defeat Tinubu again in Lagos,” he said.

Dare’s remarks come amid increasing political positioning by major parties and key opposition figures ahead of the 2027 general elections, with both the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and opposition leaders intensifying public engagements over their records and electoral prospects.

News

Court orders INEC to deregister ADC, four other political parties

Published

4 weeks ago

June 15, 2026

admin

A federal high court in Abuja, the federal capital territory (FCT) has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and four other political parties.

The other political parties are the Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

The plaintiff had asked the court to determine whether INEC is constitutionally required to deregister political parties that fail to satisfy the performance thresholds stipulated in section 225A of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

The group argued that the five parties had consistently failed to meet the conditions for retaining their registration, including securing at least 25 percent of votes in a state during a presidential election or winning elective positions at the national, state, or local government levels.

According to the plaintiff, the parties failed to achieve the required electoral performance in the 2023 general election and subsequent by-elections conducted by INEC.

The former lawmakers contended that allowing the parties to remain registered despite their poor electoral showing was contrary to constitutional provisions and detrimental to the integrity of the electoral process.

They prayed the court to compel INEC to deregister the parties before preparations for the 2027 general election gather momentum.

The plaintiffs also sought orders restraining the affected parties from participating in elections, conducting primaries, organising rallies, or carrying out other political activities pending compliance with constitutional requirements.

In his judgment, Peter Lifu, the presiding judge, upheld the arguments of the plaintiff and ordered INEC to deregister the five political parties.

Politics

‘Learn from LP crisis’ — Abure warns Seriake Dickson to beware of Obi and his supporters

Published

1 month ago

June 9, 2026

admin

The factional national chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Julius Abure, has warned Seriake Dickson, national leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), to be cautious in his alliance with Peter Obi and his supporters.

Obi, the presidential candidate of the labour party in the 2023 general election, is the presidential candidate of the NDC. He secured the party’s ticket on May 30 after he was ratified at its national convention held in Abuja.

Speaking in a statement he personally signed, Abure said Dickson appeared to have learnt from the recent crisis in the LP, describing the NDC leader’s alleged refusal to concede all elective positions in the party to Obi’s supporters as commendable.

The LP factional chairman, alleged that Obi and Alex Otti, governor of Abia, and many of their supporters who won elections on the platform of the LP in 2023 have since turned against the party’s leadership.

He stated: “They say, history usually repeats itself. Senator Dickson and Co have seen their trajectory and learnt from what happened to us, that a lot of them after they have won and now in government turned round and were struggling with the leadership of the party,” the statement reads.

“I want to say that Obi and his followers are ingrates who will never remember the sacrifices you made for them. It is even dangerous for the leadership of the NDC to wholly hand over the elective positions to Obi and his followers.

“We did it in 2022/23, immediately they saw that Obi was interested in the leadership of the party, all those elected under the platform of the party simply followed Obi, forgetting all the sacrifices and suffering we made for them.”

Abure claimed that the crisis in the LP worsened when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) obeyed a court ruling which said the tenure of the party’s leadership had lapsed, giving rise to the Nenadi Usman-led interim national committee.

“They fell into the trap of INEC, when the commission deceived them to say that the tenure of the executive has expired. We had expected them to reject that position,” Abure said.

He noted in the light of what transpired in the LP, “it is strategically” important for Dickson to retain some control within the NDC by ensuring that his own supporters occupied positions in the party.

“He needed to bring his own people so that when the chips are down, he will also have people that will speak and defend him,” Abure said.

Abure further claimed that Obi’s supporters joined the NDC to dominate the party’s structure as they allegedly did in the LP.

“They trooped into NDC with Obi hoping to occupy every space like they did in the Labour Party. No leader of any political party seeing what Obi did to the Labour Party, along with his followers will make that mistake again,” he said.

He noted that his comments were prompted by questions about how the LP managed Obi and his supporters during the 2022/2023 election cycle.

According to him, the party made significant sacrifices to accommodate Obi’s interests, including granting many tickets to his supporters free of charge.

“We ensured that Obi’s interests were adequately taken care of. We only looked at his body language, and we obliged most of his supporters’ tickets,” he said.

“Most of the tickets were for free believing that we were investing in those persons in line with the philosophy of the party, expecting that when they win, they will bring along necessary support that will help in the growth of the party.

“But ironically, when they came into power, they went after the leadership of the party.”

Abure also accused Obi and Otti of attempting to take over the party’s leadership following disputes over the tenure of its executives.

“The leaders, particularly, Peter Obi and Alex Otti decided to take over the leadership of the party,” he said.

He added that elected officials who emerged on the party’s platform failed to support it financially, urging the NDC to learn from the LP’s experience.