No agreement to make Tinubu president after Buhari -Yerima

Ahmed Yerima, a former governor of Zamfara State has said there is no agreement between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Ahmed Tinubu, to make him president of the country after Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure.

Yerima, who is also a presidential aspirant on the platform of the ruling party, APC, disclosed this on Trust Tv’s political programme, Daily Politics, on Friday night.

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Tinubu, while speaking with the party delegates in Ogun State on Thursday, said it was his turn to become the president of Nigeria.

The former governor of Lagos State also narrated how he made Buhari the president and gave his slot to become the Vice President to Yemi Osinbajo who is also now eyeing the president’s position after serving as vice president for two terms.

Tinubu’s party then, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) teamed up in February 2013, with the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) – and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to form the APC and with Buhari from the CPC given the nod to contest for the top position.

Moreso, it was believed that there was a gentleman’s agreement that ACN will produce the next candidate for the post of president after Buhari’s tenure.

However, Yerima said there was no record that such an agreement was entered into with the party.

“There is no ‘gentleman agreement’. At that time, who was the chairman of the party? Initially, we had Chief Bisi Akande and later, we had John Oyegun and today we have Senator Abdullahi Adamu, we had [Mai Mala] Buni along the process and so on.

“So, was it Chief Bisi Akande that sat down with some people? Any decision taken outside of the structure of the party is not recognised. The party has a National Working Committee, the party also has what we call NEC and there is the overall decision-making body which is the Convention.

He continued, “Any decision that is not taken within the structure of the party is not a decision. You can not have an understanding with a person and say ‘this is what will happen. If a party wants to make a decision, it is either taken by the national working committee, the NEC or it is taken by the Convention.

“If a decision is taken by the Convention, it can not be changed. But decisions can be reviewed based on any circumstances. Even if there was that understanding, the circumstances of today may be different from what it was when that understanding was reached but I’m not aware of any understanding.”

The APC has fixed its national convention for 6th June in Abuja where it will elect its presidential candidate for the 2023 general election.