The fear of Muhammadu Buhari is very real, especially with 14 governors now in APC. Consequently, the President, Goodluck Jonathan, has warned Peoples Democratic Party governors against backing any unpopular candidates as their successors in their respective states.
This is one of the issues discussed at the meeting the President had with the governors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Sunday night. The meeting ended in the early hours of Monday.
The meeting was said to have discussed the presidential declaration of General Buhari on the platform of the All Progressives Congress.
While some of the governors were said to have asked the President for “a Buhari challenge”, others
were said to have dismissed it, saying that the former leader could not defeat the President in 2015 if he emerged as the candidate of the APC.
President Jonathan was said to have invited the governors to the meeting over the growing complaints of their move to endorse candidates in their respective states.
A source at the meeting, who spoke with PUNCH on condition of anonymity, said the President said he was not against the governors picking and working for their preferred candidates as their successors.
The source said, “The President said he was not against us (governors) picking our candidates, but that we should make sure we have a popular person without blemish. He said such a candidate must also be acceptable to the generality of the members of the party in our states and that the candidates must be able to win the election.
“It is wrong to say the President is against us. He also said that we should also make sure that the candidate must have a clean record so the opposition will not capitalise on this against such a candidate.”
The source said that the meeting also discussed the desire of some of the governors to vie for senatorial seats on the platform of the party.
While saying that no concrete agreement was reached on this, he said the meeting agreed that there would be another round of discussions, which he said would involve the national leadership of the party.
The issue of senatorial seats involving the governors and sitting senators is also causing confusion in some states as senators who the governors are angling to replace are said to be demanding that they should be made to also replace their state governors in 2015.
“If the governors want to take our position, they should also allow us to take their positions as governors,” one of the aggrieved senators was said to have complained to the President.
