TheCable

Orji Kalu, chief whip of the senate, says “jealousy” is the reason some northern governors are against a northerner becoming the consensus candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Kalu spoke on Monday during an interview on Channels Television.

Earlier on Monday, Abdullahi Adamu, APC national chairman, had announced Lawan as the consensus presidential candidate for the party.

Shortly after, 13 APC northern governors, after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, insisted that the presidential ticket of the party should go to the south.

Subsequently, President Muhammadu Buhari, in a statement, said there will be no imposition of presidential candidate on the APC for the 2023 elections.

Reacting to Adamu’s decision on Lawan, Kalu said the party’s national chairman could not have taken the decision without the president’s input.

The senate chief whip added that those who are against the decision to select Lawan as consensus candidate are “jealous and hateful”.

“Most of these people are just jealous and hatred (sic) of a man from a small community coming to be president. And that is the beauty of constitutional democracy; that is what we should see as the face of Nigeria — a man like Ahmad Lawan who had never been a governor like me will spring up from somewhere to become the president,” he said.

“The governors have already addressed the president and the president told them his views. They are not courageous enough to tell us what the president told them.”

The chief whip also alleged that some of the northern governors have been promised the vice-presidential slot, adding that their decision to zone presidency to the south is about interest.

“These people should leave all this petty jealousy. It is about interest. Some of them want to be president. Some of them want to be vice-president,” he said.

“They know once Ahmad Lawan is selected now, as it has been done, they know it is closed down for them.

“They are not going to be vice-president and president. It is about interest. Some of them have been promised vice-president. I know about five governors there that have been promised vice-president; I have it on good authority.

“Some of the governors have been promised vice-president. So, let them leave personal interest for Nigerian interest.”