2023: Buhari agreed with Northern Governors’ 5-man list — Lalong

The Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum and governor of Plateau state, Simon Lalong, has claimed President Muhammadu Buhari agreed with the 5-man list presented to him as viable options for power shift to South.

Lalong stated this during an interview on Channels TV on Tuesday.

NewsWireNGR had earlier reported that the names submitted to Buhari are former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu; a former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi; Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi and Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo.

The Plateau governor explained that any of the shortlisted aspirants are qualified to contest the APC primary and become Nigeria’s President.

Lalong said, “The President told us any of these five (aspirants) is qualified to be president and have contributed to the party (APC). He said he is comfortable with any of them.

“Our recommendation is to enable us to give direction for the party as we go into the primary. We cannot go with everybody, but in our view, these are the people we think should remain.

“The screening committee submitted a report. All the contestants were graded even though none of them was disqualified.”

Meanwhile, seven Presidential aspirants from the South on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress have rejected the names of the five presidential aspirants submitted to the President as most preferred by northern governors.

The aggrieved aspirants are Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade; former Minister for State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba; former Minister for Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu; former Governor Rochas Okorocha and businessman Tein Jack-Rich.

They made this known in a joint statement on Tuesday, distancing themselves from the list.