President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina has offered an insight into what the President, told members of the Progressives Governors’ Forum about picking his preferred successor.
TrackNews understands that Buhari held a closed-door session with the governors before jetting to Spain on Tuesday wherein the president reportedly demanded that the governors should allow him to choose his successor.
However, Adesina in a paper titled, ‘Visit to Spain: Let’s Buga for Mr President’, denied that issues bordering on zoning, consensus, or imposition of candidates were discussed during his conversation with the governors.
He also denied that the president asked the governors to pick his successor.
He said: “No word about zoning, consensus, or imposition of candidate. He just charged them to let their plans converge, so that the party would put its best foot forward. Shortly after the meeting, we headed for the airport,” he wrote on Friday.
He noted that, “A short time into the about five hours flight, I went on social media, to see that all hell had broken loose. Trust some Nigerians. When there’s no controversy, they simply create one. They will die of boredom if they don’t have something to wail or ululate about.
“What were they bellyaching on? Oh, he used the words ‘my successor,’ instead of ‘APC candidate.’ That means he wants to rig the election. Otiose.
“Oh, he talked about Governors who performed well being given opportunity to get a second term, for continuity. That means he wants to impose someone from within the government to succeed him. Consensus is what he wants. Puerile.
“Is consensus not one of the acceptable ways of choosing candidates, according to the Electoral Act? So the party can jolly well decide on the method it wants.
“Oh, he didn’t talk about zoning. APC wants to give its ticket to the North. Really? Did you see anything like that in the speech?
“I tell you. When some Nigerians don’t see what they expect in a speech or statement, they simply conjure and create their own. And the wailing starts.”
