Competent sources within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), have told Saturday Telegraph that President Muhammadu Buhari has settled down to the choice of former Nasarawa State governor, Alhaji Tanko al-Makura, as the new chairman of the party.
A known ally of Buhari, he was initially elected governor of Nasarawa State on the platform of the now defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) in 2011 and was subsequently re-elected four years later on the platform of the then newly formed APC.
He is currently the member representing Nasarawa South Constituency at the upper legislative chambers One of the sources had informed our correspondent in a telephone chat that the president, who had initially scheduled to meet with state governors elected on the platform of the party before travelling out to Brussels, the Belgian capital for the EU-AU Summit postponed the announcement, which the meeting was to have served to douse tension. According to the source, the postponement was largely due to the fact that Buhari was already on a collision course with the governors, who had been rooting for the choice of Senator Muhammad Sani from Niger State as their preferred choice. “I am telling you authoritatively that President Muhammadu Buhari will anytime from now announce the choice of Senator Tanko al-Makura as the next national chairman of the APC and that would be done through consensus method at the forthcoming national convention.
“All I can also say is that the president, who is the National Leader of the APC, will make his intention and preference known to stakeholders in the party, particularly the state governors, who are said to be rooting for another candidate when he returns from Europe,” the source said.
The source, who pleaded not to be named, said the choice of the former governor is premised on the basis of a long time relationship that have existed between him and Buhari spanning their time in the CPC. Buhari, the source added, is also rooting for al-Makura because of the need to have a firm grip on the affairs of the party with a view to ensure that his anointed president emerges when the time comes to pick the ticket.
