From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu has said that the national leadership of the party will follow laid down guidelines to pick the right candidate among the 28 presidential aspirants.
He, however, said only God would decide who becomes the presidential candidate of the party for the 2023 poll. He said all the aspirants definitely cannot be the party’s presidential candidate.
The former Nasarawa State governor warned delegates against aspirants sharing money to them, saying they cannot be the right candidate of the party and do not even mean well for the country.
Speaking to Hausa Service Correspondents at the party’s headquarters on the issue of consensus, Adamu said: “You can’t stop our party stalwart from contesting election or aspiring for the presidency. It is their rights and we are happy for them. There is nothing wrong for anybody aspiring for the exalted seat of the presidency. It is God that decides who gets what. Once God makes up his mind and say this is who He wants, that is what we are praying for. We have 28 aspirants for the presidential ticket and everybody knows that all of them cannot get the ticket.
“If it’s God wish, they all can even be president of the country one after the other. Ours is to ensure justice in the choice of who emerges candidate of the party. That does not mean we are perfect. But we pray we do the right thing.”
Adamu when asked if a consensus arrangement would be adopted for the presidential race as was done when he emerged the chairman of the party said: “There is no truth in what you said. Reason is that the chairmanship seat is not the same as that of the tussle for the presidency of the country.
“You can’t even compare the two of them; that question does not arise. However, the party has laid down its rules and regulations for aspirants. We would scrutinise all of them based on our guidelines to be sure we pick the right candidate for the party.”
Adamu also dismissed the insinuations that the high number of aspirants, the first in the history of the country, was aimed at extending Buhari tenure, saying: “I can only say God will deal with those behind such insinuations. President Buhari had since 2019 declared that he would not seek tenure extension. He told everybody and swore with the Qur’an that he would not breach constitutional provision on his two terms tenure.