Northern leaders have said they would screen all presidential aspirants from the North for the 2019 general election before throwing their weight behind any candidate.
This was a statement made by the leaders on Wednesday under the umbrella of the Northern Leaders and Stakeholders’ Assembly.
Chairman of the group Tanko Yakassai noted that they would pick a candidate only when all contenders they have been assured of the person’s ability to represent the interest of the people.
“There’s a provision for adopting candidates for elections either for presidential, governorship or local government chairmanship poll,” Yakassai added.
“So far, we have not seen that happened to President Muhammadu Buhari following his rumoured second term bid. Until that is done, any adoption by state chapters of his party is not legal.
“The constitutions of the APC and other political parties have not provided for the executives of the parties to nominate candidates. It’s only the convention.
“Our organisation’s doors are open to all. We are not here for a particular political party. When political parties adopt their candidates and we have assessed them, we will know who to support.”
On whether the group would support Buhari’s re-election, Yakasai asked, “Who told you that the party has adopted him as the candidate?”
When told that the APC was working towards that, he said, “If the party is working towards that, it has not decided.
“Without knowing who is the candidate how will you know whether to support A, B or C? We will wait until we know all the candidates before we decide.”
