The All Progressives Congress (APC) the ruling party of Nigeria, has made press statement that the party would soon come up with a consensus and agreeable presidential candidate that will fly its flag in 2023.
John Akpanudoehede, National Secretary, of the party’s Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), stated this in a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria.
The statement was in reaction to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) recent allegation that President Muhammadu Buhari had a self-succession plan.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, had in Daura Katsina state, shortly after observing the Eid-el-Kabir prayers, said that Nigerians knew too well what the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has done for the country and its people and would not allow another party to take over in 2023.
He said the President also enjoys the support of Nigerian masses that would never abandon him.
“The President enjoys unshakable support not only in his hometown but also across the country and it is enough for the opposition to admit that the President matters a lot for the ruling party and Nigerians in general.
“Again, he constitutes a political obstacle they cannot dismantle come 2023. We believe the PDP and other opposition parties are nursing false hopes of taking power come 2023.
“The masses will never abandon President Buhari’s leadership and the APC. I assure you that in 2023, the masses will be waiting for the President to show the way in, courtesy of what he has been building for the country in terms of infrastructure and wellbeing of young people in the country. Nobody will take the risk by inviting another party to come and take over in 2023,” he said.
In reaction, the PDP however said the assertion by the Presidency that Nigerians will be waiting for President Muhammadu Buhari “to show the way in 2023” has further heightened public apprehensions of self-succession plot by the cabal in the Presidency.
The APC scribe, however, stressed that the party would not allow individual ambitions to derail the Buhari administration, ahead of the 2023 presidential poll.
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He said unlike the opposition PDP, the APC was a disciplined party, noting that the former was just been haunted by its past.
Mr Akpanudoedehe recalled the third term agenda of the PDP while it was in power, pointing that the “APC would surprise it with the outcome of its planned congresses scheduled to commence on July 31”.
“After our congresses and the National Convention we will shock them (PDP) by bringing a consensus and an agreeable candidate that will fly the flag of the party come 2023.
“APC has no third term agenda like PDP. What we are doing now is to stabilise the party and not allow individual ambitions to derail President Buhari’s administration,” he said. 
