Ahmad Lawan as consensus candidate: An expensive joke – Akeredolu

Ondo State governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has reacted angrily to the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman’s announcement of the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan as the party’s 2023 presidential candidate.

Rotimi who is the Chairman of Southern Governors’ Forum described Adamu as frolicking on his own over his consensus candidate announcement.

Adamu’s pronouncement didn’t go down well with the National Working Committee (NWC) and the Northern Governors who insisted that presidency must go to the South.

But in a statement which Akeredolu personally signed and made available to journalists, he described the development as an expensive joke.

The governor added that the speculation was rife that the Chairman took a flight of fancy and decided to make a pronouncement beyond his competence.

He said: “My attention has just been drawn to the expensive joke purportedly enacted by the National Chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.

“He has, allegedly, made public his preferred choice as the candidate of the APC for the Office of the President in the next general elections.

“This alleged pronouncement runs contrary to the position of the majority of Northern Governors in APC and their counterparts in the South. Our agreement is unanimous on this issue.”

Akeredolu said that the office of the President should be contested for by qualified persons from the Southern part of the country if the move to get a consensus candidate fails.

“There has been no shift from this settled issue.

“Let it be known that the Chairman or anyone who holds a contrary opinion does so at a personal level.

“He is at best embarking on a frolic which reasonable people will consider dangerous.

“We are grieving but have not forgotten that Power must shift to the south. On this we stand,” Akeredolu said.