2023: APC shops for strong flag bearer, as imposing a presidential candidate unlikely

Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, on Tuesday, said it is unlikely that President Muhammadu Buhari would impose a presidential candidate on the  ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Governor Sule stated this during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, while giving an update on the meeting between members of the Progressives Governors’ Forum and President Buhari.

He said, “I don’t think it is a situation where the President would just say that ‘this is the person (his preferred candidate), take him’. I don’t think it is going to be that.

“If it is going to be that, then he won’t be inviting people for consultation”.

Speaking further, Sule noted that the President was clear on the qualities of who should emerge as the presidential candidate of the ruling party, however, he never mentioned anyone.

He hinted that President Buhari recommended that such a person must be one who would be widely accepted by Nigerians in every part of the country, as well as understands the values of the APC.

“The President clearly mentioned that … our consensus candidate or our candidate to be selected must be somebody (who is) acceptable to Nigerians; somebody who understands what the APC is all about and what the APC is after, and he mentioned clearly that it is somebody that will go to every part of the country and be accepted.

“Similar to what President Muhammadu Buhari has said, we must bring somebody that can win an election and be able to sustain all the good things that the APC has done. So, that is exactly the definition of the President. But if you are looking for a name, the President didn’t mention a name.

“So, he gave us that in a plug and allowed us to think of the right person in these few days while he is in Spain. So, when he comes back, then everybody can say, ‘okay, we have thought about it and we believe it is … who is going to be president”, he submitted.

The APC  officially began the search for its ideal flagbearer in the forthcoming presidential election on Monday by screening those who have indicated an interest in its ticket to contest the poll.