Akeredolu fumes as Senate President Ahmed Lawan is expected to declare for the presidential ticket of the APC this week with the backing of Aso Rock honchos.
By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Ahead of the reported declaration of Senate President Ahmed Lawan for President later this week, Governor of Ondo State, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has warned the leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC) against leaving the contest for the party’s flag bearer open to all contestants in the different zones.
An open contest will give the North the edge since the region has more voting delegates than the South.
The North has 4,354 voting delegates in the APC convention set to hold on May 30 where the party’s flag bearer will emerge. The South, on the other hand, has 3,333 voting delegates, leaving the north with the advantage if the contest is left open.
According to Premium Times quoting a source close to the Senate President, Lawan has been testing the waters for months and eventually decided that he will make the declaration this week.
The APC will close the sale of it’s nomination form this Friday.
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But Akeredolu, in a statement published by the News Agency of Nigeria, warned against leaving the contest open.
He said: “Our Party, APC, Must Tread The Path Of Equity”, on Tuesday in Akure, said the party must zone presidency to the south to avoid a crisis.
“It is very expedient that we avoid self-inflicted crises before the general elections. It is the turn of the southern part of the country to produce the next president.
“The party leadership should have no difficulty in making pronouncements on this very important issue, just as it has fixed various fees for the purchase of forms,” Mr Akeredolu said.
The governor said that the party could not afford any internal bickering which could cause distrust and militate against cohesion, harmony and the zeal to achieve set objectives.
Mr Akeredolu, who said that the current democratic dispensation is anchored on the unwritten convention driven by a principle of equity, said the APC must do nothing which is capable of tilting the delicate balance against the established arrangement which guarantees peace and promotes trust.
“Our party just elected officers on the established principle of giving every part of the country an important stake in the political calculus,” the governor said.
He explained that the focus has now shifted to the process which would culminate in the participation of the party in the general elections in 2023.
“All lovers of peace and freedom must do everything to eschew tendencies which may predispose them to taking decisions which promote distrust and lead to a crisis, the end of which nobody may be able to predict,” he maintained.
Mr Akeredolu, who said party chairmanship position had gone to the north and all other offices have been filled, said it is the time the leaders of the party must make a categorical statement, devoid of equivocation, on the pattern of succession.
“This must be done without delay. The principle of Federal Character is enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, as amended. It will be disingenuous for anyone to argue against rotation at this period,” he stated.
