By Damola Emmanuel
To quicken the process of producing a consensus candidate for the All Progressives Congress, APC, the party may prune the number of presidential aspirants seeking to fly the party’s flag in the 2023 presidential vote on Monday.
This was indicated during Sunday’s meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Advisory Council of the APC ahead of the party’s convention kicking off in Abuja on Monday.
In his meeting with the presidential aspirants at the State House, Abuja, Saturday night, President Buhari had directed all the aspirants to consult among themselves and come up with a formidable candidate ahead of the primary starting Monday.
And while addressing the National Advisory Council members Sunday night in Abuja, the President also hinted that “in order to prevent any post-convention acrimonies and also reduce noticeable anxiety among members on the possible outcome of the process, the party leadership has recommended the intensification of consultation and consensus building to reduce the number of aspirants as it approaches the convention, which commences Monday, June 6, 2022.”
According to a release issued by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, on Sunday, Buhari told the Advisory Council that “in order to further support the efforts of the party, he has admonished the aspirants to consult among themselves and with the party, so that the objective of the recommendation by the leadership would be actualized.”
As the clock ticks towards what is obviously a deadline by the President for the aspirants to produce a formidable candidate ahead of the convention starting tomorrow, political pundits are watching with keen interest how all these pan out.
APC members are also waiting with bated breathe for what would be the President’s next move should the aspirants not agree among themselves on which of them should fly the party’s flag.