“An expensive joke”— Akeredolu hits Adamu over selection of Lawan as APC consensus candidate

Rotimi Akeredolu, governor of Ondo, has described the announcement of Senate President Ahmad Lawan as APC presidential consensus candidate as an expensive joke.

On Monday, Abdullahi Adamu, APC national chairman, announced Lawan as the consensus candidate for the presidential ticket, but the party’s national working committee (NWC) led by Sulaiman Argungu, the national organising secretary, said it would align with APC governors on power shift to the south

Reacting to Adamu’s choice in a statement issued on Monday, Akeredolu said the decision made by the national chairman is beyond his competence.

He said the chairman’s choice runs contrary to that of the majority in the party, and as such it is dangerous.

“My attention has just been drawn to the expensive joke purportedly enacted by the national chairman of APC, senator Abdullahi Adamu. The speculation is rife that the chairman took a flight of fancy and decided to make a pronouncement beyond his competence,” he said.

“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. 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.”