However, President Buhari has distanced himself from the APC Chairman, telling Northern APC governors that he has not endorsed any of the 23 aspirants seeking to be the presidential candidate of the APC.
Buhari met with the Northern APC governors at the State House, Abuja, Monday afternoon.
Briefing journalists after the meeting, the Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, said the President directed them to meet with the National Working Committee of the party, to fine-tune modalities for the selection of the presidential flag bearer of APC.
“The president told us that for the APC presidential primaries, he has no anointed candidate and therefore directed that the Progressive Governors’ Forum meet with the National Working Committee of the party to agree and proffer further solutions and recommendations for his successor.
“And based on his directive, the Chairman of Progressive Governors’ Forum has summoned a meeting for 5:00 (local time) today, after which we will make further suggestions to the President,” Mr Lalong said.
On his part, Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu, said the stance of the northern PDP governors that power should shift to the south was taken in the interest of fairness.
He stated: “We looked at the totality of the issues in our country and we believe APC with a President that has delivered democratic dividends across the breadth of the country and 22 Governors, has everything going for it.
“What is the political brinkmanship that we need to bring so that every component of Nigeria will feel important. It is to allow opportunity for other parts of the country. And this is a step that will bring more peace and resonate with every part of Nigeria,” he said.
In addition, Kaduna State Governor, Nasiru El-Rufai, said 13 out of the 14 northern governors of the APC, agreed to concede zoning to the south. Only Kogi State Governor, who is also an aspirant, disagreed refused to endorse it.