APC Chairmen’s Forum denies reports it recommended Kyari’s successor to Buhari

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Chairmen’s Forum on Friday dismissed reports linking the body with the recommendation of a candidate for the position of Chief of Staff to the President which became vacant last Friday following the death of Abba Kyari.

The Chairman of the Forum, Ali Bukar Dalori, said in a statement in Maiduguri, Borno State, that the selection of the Chief of Staff to the President was not the purview of the forum.

He said: “While thanking our friends, journalists and media house for the constant coverage of our forum’s activities, I am compelled to issue this clarification over a serious error by a national newspaper, in reporting our condolence message to Mr. President and leader of our party, the APC.

“Our message to the President was purely to convey our thoughts and prayers to him over the loss of his chief of staff and friend of over 40 years.

“In reporting the condolence however, it was erroneously suggested, that we recommended the APC national leadership to choose late Abba Kyari’s successor for the President.

“While it was totally outside our mandate to be involved on the issue of the President’s chief of staff, associating us with such matter at a time the President and the country was at the peak of bereavement, tended to present the forum of APC chairmen as being highly insensitive to the mood of the President, our party and the country.

“In addition, we also know a vacant office of the chief of staff is not one, that the constitution mandates immediate replacement hence, there was never a basis for hurry.”

Dalori insisted that members of the forum are experienced politicians with local and national knowledge of political workings and cannot dabble in issues outside their mandate.

He added: “The forum is experienced enough to recognize that appointment of chief of staff, being the closest and most senior personal aide, is normally the exclusive privilege of a President and no one ever gets involved whether in Nigeria or in developed democracies.

READ ALSO: Kyari was more intelligent than everyone in Buhari’s cabinet, almost became VP —Mamman Daura

“All the party chairmen will remain 100 percent loyal to the President, and (after the mourning period), we will support whoever Mr. President eventually chooses as his new chief of staff, whether the choice is from the south or north, and whether he or she is a Muslim or Christian.”

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