According to reports, certain members of the Progressive Governors Forum have banded together to oppose the APC’s decision to run former President Goodluck Jonathan as its presidential candidate in 2023.
The APC Governors have been unable to agree on a presidential candidate to nominate for President Muhammadu Buhari to consider in recent meetings.
Four governors from the forum are vying to succeed President Buhari at the conclusion of his term: Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), and Ben Ayade (Cross River).
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The choice to run Jonathan as the party’s presidential candidate has made it difficult for the party to form a presidential screening committee, screen presidential candidates, and organize presidential primaries.
As a result, the party and others lobbied the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, to extend the June 3, 2022 deadline for parties to finish their primaries by six days.
“Of course, you know that the four governors who are in the race are refractory to any consideration on Jonathan’s desire,” an associate of one of the APC governors told Newsmen.
Apart from being a severe campaign challenge for the party, having to clean up all the trash it slung at Jonathan in 2015, it’s also an indictment on the APC’s caliber of candidates.
“The governors had made that position known to the president before and I believe it will still form part of the talking points whenever they meet him again before the presidential primary.
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“To them, if the president cannot support any of the governors to emerge as the standard-bearer of the party, then he should just stay aloof and allow the process play out naturally without endorsing anybody outside the fold. This is not to say that you don’t have those who are canvassing for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. So, as it is, the governors are divided by their various interests. All they can ask for now is just a level playing field.”
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