News of Lawan as annointed presidential candidate shocked Buhari, say El-Rufai

Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai says President Muhammadu Buhari was shocked when he was told Senate President Ahmad Lawan was the “anointed” presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said this on Thursday while responding to questions on a programme on TVC.

In June 2022, some hours before voting at the APC presidential primary, Abdullahi Adamu, national chair of the party, had announced Lawan as the consensus candidate for the party.

Speaking on Thursday, El-Rufai said Buhari was very clear about his position on the choice of a presidential candidate for the party.

He said, “The members of the national working committee called us and said that the national chairman had told them that the senate president is the anointed one.

“Again, the northern APC governors asked for a meeting with the President. We went to the President and said ‘Mr. President, this is what we are hearing; this is not what you’ve been telling us in the past two to three years. Is it true?’

“And the President expressed shock and said ‘I’m not part of this’. And right there and then, he summoned Garba Shehu to issue a statement that he has not anointed anyone. And he told us very clearly ‘I have not anointed anyone’.”