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 anoints ahead of the May 29 primary.
The presidential aspirants asked APC to zone the presidential ticket to an aspirant from the South-East, which is yet to produce a President.
They met on Sunday 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, Gov. Dave Umahi; outgoing Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba; UK-based Pastor, Nicholas Felix Nwagbo; former Minister of Information, Chief Ikeobasi Mokelu and the only female aspirant, Mrs Uju Kennedy 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 wholehearted 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 are accepted by and chosen by other Nigerians to fly the APC flag,” he said.
This development comes a day after the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress 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.
A confident APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, had reassured stakeholders that no grieving 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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