Akeredolu dismisses Lawan as consensus candidate, says ‘it’s an expensive joke’

Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu has said that the declaration of the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan as consensus candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), by the National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, is an “expensive joke”.

The governor revealed this via a statement on Monday night.

MOUTHPIECE NGR had reported that northern governors of the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), have rejected the nomination of the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan as the consensus presidential candidate of the party.

Also, there have been disagreements among members of the APC National Working Committee (NWC) over Lawan’s nomination as the APC consensus candidate.

Akeredolu, the chairman of Southern Governors’ Forum, via a statement titled, ‘Abdullahi Adamu on a frolic of his own’ said the decision of Adamu was against that of the APC northern and southern governors.

“My attention has just been drawn to the expensive joke purportedly enacted by the National Chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.

“The speculation is rife that the Chairman took a flight of fancy and decided to make a pronouncement beyond his competence.

“He has, allegedly, made public his preferred choice as the candidate of the APC for the Office of the President in the next general elections.

“This alleged pronouncement runs contrary to the position of majority of Northern Governors in APC and their counterparts in the South. Our agreement is unanimous on this issue.

“The Office of the President should be contested for by qualified persons from the Southern part of the country if the move to get a consensus candidate fails. There has been no shift from this settled issue.

“Let it be known that the Chairman or anyone who holds a contrary opinion does so at a personal level. He is at best embarking on a frolic which reasonable people will consider dangerous.

“We are grieving but have not forgotten that Power MUST shift to the south. On this we stand,” the statement read.