National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Wednesday said there will be no automatic ticket for President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 elections.
Tinubu said Buhari was a product of due process and will not want anything short of same process.
The former Lagos state governor was reacting to the position of the governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha, who said there is no better man for the Presidency than President Muhammadu Buhari.
Okorocha made the position while addressing leaders of the ‘Democratic Youths Congress for Buhari 2019,” who were on a courtesy visit to him at the Government House, Owerri on Tuesday.
Tinubu who spoke in Akure during a visit to the leader of the Pan Yoruba Socio-political group, Afenifere, Pa. Reuben Fasoranti, said due process will be followed in determining who will be the Presidential candidate of the party in 2019.
Other notable leaders on the visit included former interim Chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande, South West Chairman of the party, Chief Pius Akinyelure among others.
They were received by Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, his deputy, Agboola Ajayi and the acting Chairman of the party in the state, Engr. Ade Adetimehin.
He said only the National Executive Council (NEC) of the party can meet and decide to have a concensus candidate.
“No governor can appropriate the power of endorsement to themselves. Buhari is a believer in process, the Buhari I know believes in rule of law.
“We wanted him even before the last convention and primaries of the party and Akeredolu is here standing with me, he was not the governor then. He was one of the leading delegates that voted properly and Buhari was a clear winner.
“We follow all the constitutional provision and an individual opinion does not matter at this stage, Buhari will want a normal process , Buhari that I know. Who says he will lose at any convention?
“But if the National body, the NEC and all of us as members, endorsed him as our single candidate, we will not be violating INEC regulations, we will not be violating our party’s constitution.
“What you are hearing is just a campaign. Buhari has not excluded anybody, and he has not affected ambition of anybody, “Tinubu said.
The APC leader said he was in the state to acknowledge the leadership of Pa. Reuben Fasoranti as the leader of the Yoruba race.
“I am in Akure to Acknowledge the leadership of Pa Fasoranti in our own race,as a great leader of the omoluwabi and in his evening, we want him to be happy ,he has been a great leader.
“His intellectual is still very intact. Seek his advise, seek his understanding and prayers ,that is why I am here, ” he noted.
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