No automatic presidential ticket for Buhari in 2017 - Bola Tinubu

National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Wednesday said there will be no automatic ticket for President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 elections.

The former Lagos state governor was reacting to the position of Imo state governor, Rochas Okorocha, who said there is no better man for the Presidency than President Muhammadu Buhari.

Tinubu who spoke in Akure during a visit to the leader of the Pan Yoruba Socio-political group, Afenifere, Pa. Reuben Fasoranti, said due process will be followed in determining who will be the Presidential candidate of the party in 2019.

He said only the National Executive Council (NEC) of the party can meet and decide to have a concensus candidate.

“No governor can appropriate the power of endorsement to themselves. Buhari is a believer in process, the Buhari I know believes in rule of law.

“We wanted him even before the last convention and primaries of the party and Akeredolu is here standing with me, he was not the governor then. He was one of the leading delegates that voted properly and Buhari was a clear winner.

“We follow all the constitutional provision and an individual opinion does not matter at this stage, Buhari will want a normal process , Buhari that I know. Who says he will lose at any convention?

“But if the National body, the NEC and all of us as members, endorsed him as our single candidate, we will not be violating INEC regulations, we will not be violating our party’s constitution.

“What you are hearing is just a campaign. Buhari has not excluded anybody, and he has not affected ambition of anybody, “Tinubu said.