Seven of the presidential aspirants on the platform of the All Progressives Congress have dissociated themselves from the shortlist presented to President Muhammadu Buhari by Northern Governors to choose a consensus candidate from.
Their position was contained in a letter on Tuesday to President Muhammadu Buhari, hours to the APC primaries.
In the statement by one of them and a former Minister for Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, the aggrieved aspirants said the position of the Governors was meant to sideline others, especially from the South East and South South.
The statement said: “In the past few hours we have been bombarded with calls and messages from my supporters and concerned Nigerians on a list of five Presidential aspirants submitted to President Buhari to choose from.
“As long as we are concerned no list has been submitted to Mr. President, the move by the Governors is considered a joke taken to the extreme with the aim of playing with the intellect of Nigerians particularly us from the South-East.
“Mr. President’s directive is very simple, that all Presidential aspirants including those from the North should meet and harmonise inorder to produce a single candidate. As it stands we have not been consulted or attended a meeting where it was agreed that such names be sent to Mr. President.
“In the so-called list out of the five names only one was selected from the South-East and we are talking about fairness and justice to the South. What the Governors have done is a mere picnic in the park. These are the same Governors talking about Equity, justice and fairness yet in a clandestine manner purportedly sidelined the South East.
“In the absence of any harmonised agreement no list has been submitted to Mr. President, what they have done is just nothing but a charade which is bound to fail.
“We also have it on good authority that the majority of these Governors have been promised and also given various forms of gratifications in order to thwart the process in favour of one aspirant and such grand plot will fail woefully.
“Moreso, the party led by Senator Abdullahi Adamu remains the official organ of the party through which decisions taken by stakeholders in the party will be communicated and acted upon, in the absence of that any other move remains null and void.
“We urge all well meaning Nigerians to disregard such information, as we remain in the race hence no consensus agreement has been reached amongst all contestants.”
Other aspirants who signed the letter apart from Onu are the Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade; former Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba; former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha; and businessman, Tein Jack-Rich.
