The All Progressives Congress, APC, has finally made its position clear on the issue of an automatic ticket for President Muhammadu Buhari come 2019 presidential election.
The party said there was no automatic ticket for President Buhari, adding that he will go through primaries.
There have been the clamour by some party members for an automatic ticket for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.
The APC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, addressing reporters in Abuja on Thursday, said neither the President nor any member of the party would be given an automatic ticket.
He stated that the party ’s constitution did not have provisions for such.
According to him, as a party following the rule of law, the APC would abide by its own rules as enshrined in its constitution when dealing with the issue of nominations.
He said, however, that President Buhari had not indicated interest in seeking re -election, stressing that the talks about his second tenure was, at best, “presumptuous.”
He added, “What I can assure you is that the APC will abide by the APC Constitution on such matters and our constitution does not provide for automatic ticket, our constitution does not provide for the right for first refusal.
“So, our party will abide by the constitution.
We have looked at what our President has done and as a party we are happy with his achievements; if he comes up today to say he wants to contest, we will support him but to begin to throw things like automatic ticket, right of first refusal, they don’t exist in our constitution.”
