ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday requested state governors from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) celebration to support him in selecting a successor who would stand for election in a presidential contest in February 2023.
Nigerians will go to the polls to decide on a brand new president as Buhari will step down after main Africa’s most populous nation for eight years.
The APC celebration has set June 6-8 for its particular conference to decide on a presidential candidate. If the president has his manner and the governors, who wield affect with voting delegates, rally behind his candidate, it could power the opposite contestants to withdraw from the race and keep away from a vote
Twenty-three candidates, together with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Bola Tinubu, a strong former governor of Lagos state, and a few governors have registered to contest.
In a speech to state governors, Buhari stated the APC had established insurance policies that guarantee easy succession in any respect ranges of presidency, together with in accordance governors the privilege to have a say on who succeeded them.
“In protecting with the established inner insurance policies of the celebration … , I want to solicit the reciprocity and support of the governors and different stakeholders in selecting my successor, who would fly the flag of our celebration for election into the workplace of the president,” Buhari stated.
Getting governors to rally behind a single candidate is probably not simple, as some need to contest the first. Buhari may face pus hack from Osinbajo and Tinubu who’ve campaigned to woo delegates.
The essential opposition has chosen former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as its presidential candidate.
(Additional reporting and writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe in Lagos, Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
