2019: No Going Back On Automatic Ticket - APC


The All Progressives Congress has once again, maintained that there will be no automatic ticket for anyone contesting the 2019 presidential election on the party's platform.


National Publicity Secretary of the APC, who is also a member of the party's National Working Committee, Bolaji Abdullahi, stated this on Friday while responding to enquiries by Punch over a statement credited to a national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on the issue.


Tinubu had, in an interview with reporters in Akure, the Ondo State capital, last week, insisted that the party would not give an automatic ticket for President Muhammadu Buhari to contest the 2019 presidential election. The APC leader was reacting to claims by the Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum, Rochas Okorocha, that 34 state governors had endorsed the President for the 2019 race.


Tinubu, in his interaction with the media on the issue, had said it was inappropriate for any group of individuals to usurp the power of the people. He had noted that the APC was a party built on the rule of law and that the APC would carry out due process when the time came to select its candidate.


The former Lagos State governor also said President Buhari would not subscribe to any arrangement that would scuttle due process.
Abdullahi agreed with Tinubu's position on the issue, stressing that the views expressed by the party leader were not different from the party's position too.


The spokesperson said,“What he Tinubu said is not different from what the party has been saying. I have been speaking and sending out press statements on the issue and our position has not changed.


"As a party, we are currently focused on delivering on our current mandate and that to me is what we should focus on". In a separate interview on the issue, the party's National Vice Chairman South South, Hilliard Eta, said the party respected its rules just as it respected the rights of individuals to freely hold and express opinions.


He said, "The endorsement of a candidate is part of the democratic culture which is normal. Personally, my candidate for the 2019 Presidential election is President Muhammadu Buhari.”




Punch

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