APC Presidential Primaries: I have “no preferred candidate,” and has “anointed no one,” says Buhari

By our reporter| President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday told Northern governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressive Congress that he has no anointed candidate in the party’s presidential primaries.

The President made the disclosure at a meeting with the governor at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday.

According to Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, Buhari cleared all doubts about where he stands on the choice of a presidential candidate for the ruling party.

The president, he said, told the governors of he has “no preferred candidate,” and has “anointed no one,” and is determined to ensure that “there shall be no imposition of any candidate on the party.”

“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 Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Simon Lalong, and Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of the Progressive Governors Forum, had earlier told the president they had come to affirm the position of the Northern Governors that the party’s candidate in the presidential election shall come from the southern part of the country.

They apologised to the President for the leakage of their signed memorandum which was not in support of any particular candidate and gave assurances to the President on their readiness to accept his leadership on the matter.