A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chekwas Okorie, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari lacks the power as an individual to appoint Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a presidential candidate.
Okorie made this known in an interview with Daily Trust while reacting to a comment made by Senator Rufai Hanga that there was an agreement that President Muhammadu Buhari would hand over power to Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2023.
Reacting, Okorie said the President cannot appoint Tinubu a presidential candidate because it does not exist in the constitution of the APC.
He, however, noted that the purported agreement should not be a basis for the transfer of power, urging Tinubu to lobby, just like any other aspirant in the party.
He said: “If there was such agreement, it was gentlemanly. It does not exist in the APC constitution or any democratic norm. It does not exist in the Nigerian constitution.
“If there was such agreement, it wouldn’t have been when Buhari was sworn in as president. And it wouldn’t have been written.
“It was a gamble, as far as I am concerned. So I will say that if Asiwaju is relying on that agreement, he sold ‘the market’ on credit. That is the basic political description of what he did.
“Will President Buhari tell the party not to observe all the necessary processes that would lead to the election of a presidential candidate and simply foist Asiwaju on us? That one will not be democratic, and it is not possible. It will be a sure way of leading the party to defeat in 2023. And I know that President Buhari would want to see the party continue after him.
“That type of agreement does not affect all of us in the party.”
