The hope for an automatic ticket for 2027 elections for majority of the Senators on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), seems to have been dashed as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is the national leader of the party has turned down such an offer.
The leadership of the Senate led by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio met with President Tinubu on Wednesday to canvass for automatic ticket for the current members of the Senate on the platform of the APC.
The Senators, it was gathered were desirous of the automatic ticket to enable them contest the 2027 elections without having to go through party primaries, adding that allowing the APC Senators to return would go a long way to maintain continuity in the legislature and cohesion.
It was gathered that most of the Senators that attended the meeting at the Villa, left with so much disappointment as the legislators were pointedly told by President Tinubu granting an automatic ticket would have so much consequences on the party.
Information pieced together indicated that President Tinubu pointedly told the Senators that state governors shall be allowed and encouraged to continue to play their roles as leaders of the Party in the state, thus they would have to be the ones to decide who gets party tickets in their states.
The President who is the national leader of the APC, it was gathered made it clear that Governors on the platform of the Party would remain in charge of the structures of the APC at the state level and are expected to have the final say on the list of candidates to be submitted to INEC by the party.
A source at the meeting told Forefront on condition of anonymity that the meeting was requested for by the leadership of the Senate to plead and canvass for automatic tickets for senators, but the President politely turned it down as he insisted that he would not want to temper with the leadership position of the governors in the affairs of the party.
According to the source; “The President said that the governor of each state shall have influence over candidates”.
The Senators had made a strong case for the need to have experienced legislators remain for the sake of continuity and stability, thus pleaded for automatic tickets to be granted by the party.
Further checks indicted that the President was unmistakenly and unambiguously clear on the matter as he pointedly told the Senators that governors are the leaders of the party in their states, thus shall be allowed to decide and determine who gets the ticket.
