Former Governor of Nasarawa State and one of the front line aspirants for the chairmanship position of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, yesterday hinted that there might not be any election into the office of national chairman of the ruling party when delegates converge on Eagle Square on March 26. Adamu said going by the precedence of previous national conventions, delegates may not have to go through the rigours of voting but the conventionwouldendupproducingaconsensuscandidate acceptable to all the contending parties. According to him, right from the time of Chief Bisi Akande, Chief John Odigie- Oyegun, down to Adams Oshiomhole, the party had always settled for a consensus candidate to lead the party and the forthcoming convention might not follow a different pattern. He debunked speculations that he had chickened out of the race following the alleged withdrawal of his endorsements from high quarters.
Abdullahi was earlier yesterday reported to had failed to appear before the APC national chairmanship screening committee, an indication of apparent withdrawal from the race. But in an interaction with journalists late yesterday, Adamu said the story making the rounds about his purported withdrawal was nothing but a fallacy created by mischievous persons who were out to blackmail him and tarnish his image. He said that contrary to the reports trending on the social media, he did not shun the screening exercise but had his turn with the screening committee yesterday at about 12 noon.
He said: “I went for the screening. There were other people waiting to be screened when I got there. But to my shock, I later read in the social media that I didn’t do the screening. “There were those that said that the endorsement had been taken off. It is a fallacy, but I don’t believe in shouting. “These are just creations of people who have negative attitude to life and who do not believe in positivity.
They believe in blackmail to get what they want. “I’m very lucky and thank God that I don’t belong to that stock. It is not in my attitude. It us not in my character. I face the reality of my situation and this situation is not going to be an exception.” Adamu, however, expressed misgivings over the campaign launched against him by some aspirants who questioned his joining the APC from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as well as when he joined the chairmanship race. According to him, he is a bona fide member if the APC because he joined when the party was at it very formative stage when people from different legacy parties came together to form today’s ruling party.