Former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Ahmad Sani Yerima, has said that there is no agreement between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Ahmed Tinubu to field him for the Presidency after the rule of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Yerima, who is also a presidential candidate in the ruling APC, announced a private television station Friday night.
Tinubu, while addressing party delegates in Ogun State on Thursday, said it was time for him to become Nigeria’s next president.
The former Lagos State Governor claimed to have supported President Buhari to emerge President and nominated Professor Yemi Osinbajo for the post of Vice President. Osinbajo is also currently running for the presidency after completing his second term as Vice President.
“As far as we can remember, the Tinubu party, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) merged with other parties in February 2013, with Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) – and part of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to form the party. The APC along with Buhari from the CPC was allowed to run for office”.
It is believed that there is an agreement between ACN that it will field the next presidential candidate after Buhari’s rule. However, Yerima said there were no reports of such an agreement with the party.
“There is no consensus on who is the leader of the party? First, we have Chief Bisi Akande, and later, we have John Oyegun, and today we have Senator Abdullahi Adamu, we had (Mai Mala) Buni in the running and so on.
“So, did Chief Bisi Akande meet with other people? Any decision taken outside the party system is not approved. The party has a National Working Committee, the party has what we call the NEC and there is a general decision-making body i.e. the National Caucus.
“Any decision that is not made in the party system is not a decision,” he said.
“You can not understand the person and say ‘it will happen. If the party wants to make a decision, it is either the National Working Committee or the Convention.
“Once the agreement is in place, it cannot be changed. But decisions can be made on a case-by-case basis. Even with this understanding, the situation today may be different from what it was when that understanding was achieved. ”
The APC has set 6th June as the date for its convention in Abuja to elect its presidential candidate in the 2023 general election.