Seven presidential aspirants of the All Progressives Congress on Sunday reached an agreement to throw their weight behind any South-East consensus candidate the party endorses ahead of the May 29 primary.
The presidential aspirants argued that for the sake of equity and unity, it is only fair that the APC zones the ticket to the South East, which is yet to produce a President for the country.
The review meeting held at the residence of Senator Rochas Okorocha under the chairmanship of former Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Ogbonniya Onu.
Also in attendance were Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi; former Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba; United Kingdom-based pastor, Nicholas Nwagbo; former Minister of Information, Chief Ikeobasi Mokelu; and the only female aspirant, Mrs Uju Ohnenye.
Onu commended the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), the Abdullahi Adamu-led leadership of the party and APC members on their avowed commitment to the unity of Nigeria and the inclusion of all parts of Nigeria in the governance architecture of the country.
“We commend all Nigerians who are committed to the Nigerian project by the whole hearted support of the aspiration of the South East to produce the next Nigerian President in 2023.
“In furtherance of this commitment, all aspirants here commit to aligning with any of the South East aspirants that is accepted by and chosen by other Nigerians to fly the APC flag,” he said.
The development came a day after the National Working Committee of the APC disclosed that there are plans to reconcile aggrieved aspirants after the tickets of the presidential, governorship, senatorial and House of Representatives are secured at the primaries.
The APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, had reassured stakeholders that no aggrieved aspirant will leave the party after the party’s primaries, which are expected to run from May 26 to 30.
Adamu, who was represented by his Special Assistant, Prof. Abdullahi Yau, disclosed this at a virtual town hall meeting organised under the aegis of the party Ward-to-ward Diaspora Network in collaboration with the APC Ward-to-ward Ambassadors on “Intra-Party democracy for the Emergence of Best Candidates.”
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