Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu has said he got to know that President Muhammadu Buhari did not have a preferred person to succeed him during the convention of the All Progressives Congress.
Tinubu stated this in a letter he signed as a reply to Buhari’s congratulatory message on becoming the party’s presidential candidate.
President Buhari’s spokesman Femi Adesina published the content of the letter in a statement on Saturday.
“Your Excellency, one must admire the sense of purpose, composure, and maturity you demonstrated in the weeks and months preceding the primary elections of our great party. As aspirants and party leaders, we all pleaded with you to ‘choose’ your successor,” said Tinubu.
“Naturally, this is expected especially in African democracy. Up until the 6th of June, 2022, the day of the APC Presidential primaries, the whole of Nigeria, including myself, waiting for you to announce your preferred candidate. All of us thought and believed this was a very simple matter.
“However, it was only as the primary went into the night and as the candidates walked up to the podium and spoke that I fully and truly appreciated your position and stance to be neutral and non-aligned to any of us.”
In an exclusive interview with Channels TV aired in January, Buhari refused to disclose, when asked, the identity of his preferred candidate.
“No, I wouldn’t say because he may be eliminated if I mention. I better keep it,” the President said with a smile.
