President Muhammadu Buhari had on Monday afternoon denied endorsing the senate president Ahmed Lawal as the party’s consensus candidate.
Earlier, the party chairman Adamu had announced the adoption of Ahmed Lawan as the consensus candidate of the party.
He had made the announcement during a meeting with the national Working Committee in Abuja.
This went against the agreement of the northern governors who had agreed that power should be shifted to the south.
Also, the NWC kicked against the decision insisting that every aspirant must be given an equal chance to contest at the primaries election at the coming convention.
However the party chairman had stated that the decision to anoint Lawan as the consensus candidate was made after consultation with President Muhammadu Buhari.
The president in a statement has debunked such claims and rumor as baseless, stating that he did not anoint anyone as the consensus candidate and that he is against imposition.
He said “I believe in the will of the people, and I cannot, therefore, put pressure on voters to elect leaders they don’t like”.
This he said in a statement the by Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu.
The president also encouraged the people to vote for candidates they believe will be able to deliver on their promises because it is part of their “continually guaranteed democratic right”.
The president also urged voters to come out en mass and vote for their candidate in the supplementary elections scheduled for 18 states on Saturday march 23, 2023.
He assured Nigerians that he is ready to work with elected representatives irrespective of the party platforms from which they have been elected.
He also expressed his gratitude to Nigerians for re-electing him, assuring them that he would not forget their sacrifice of support despite the harsh weather situations during the period of his re-election for a second term.
“I was deeply overwhelmed by your show of incredible confidence in me, and I will never let you down. Thank you for your show of sincere support for me”.
Buhari also called on the electorates and security agencies to ensure peaceful conduct of the supplementary elections in accordance to the law and constitution. He also added that the supplementary elections are no less important than others.
