THE Presidency has denied that President Buhari’s comments in a recent interview wherein he kicked against zoning was directed to All Progressives Congress’ national leader, Bola Tinubu.
The Presidency described the insinuation as a malicious campaign to drive a wedge between Buhari and his staunch ally, Tinubu.
Presidential spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, in a statement last night clarified that it was a mischievous attempt to drag the President into controversies and urged the citizens and especially the members of the APC not fall for this.
“The ruling party, the APC, unlike others before it is a popular political party owned by its entire membership, hence Mr. President was making the point during the 45-minute interview that neither he nor anyone in the leadership could impose their wishes on the party,’ Shehu said.
“This is a basic consensus that binds the entire party leadership. The party leaders remain firmly committed to the principles that succession must be through the democratic norms and process.
“The mention he made of Lagos was not a reference to the respected party leader, Senator Bola Tinubu as the opposition party’s predatory designs would put it in order to damage the excellent relationship between the two of them”.
The president had shrugged off the idea of zoning, noting that only members of the APC can decide.
According to Buhari, the acting leadership of the party is fast working to reposition the party and make every member feel at home.
“The hope of this administration is to see APC last beyond it. Therefore we should allow the party to decide,” he said.
“You cannot sit here in Lagos, for instance, and decide on the fate of APC on zoning.
“The restructuring of the party has begun from the bottom to the top with the membership card registration. Every member of the party must be involved.
“We will soon conduct our convention. No single member of the party will be allowed to go against the wish of the party.
“The political party has to know how many members it has state by state. This the right step to go about”.
