Posted by Samuel on Tue 03rd Feb, 2026 - tori.ng
Gambari said the disclosure was made during a closed-door meeting between Buhari and the governors, who had earlier agreed that power should shift to the South and formally signed a declaration to that effect.
Former Chief of Staff to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, has revealed that Buhari openly told 19 northern governors he had no anointed successor ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
Gambari said the disclosure was made during a closed-door meeting between Buhari and the governors, who had earlier agreed that power should shift to the South and formally signed a declaration to that effect.
Speaking on Monday, February 2, 2026, during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Gambari explained that the meeting was convened specifically to clarify whether Buhari had already chosen a preferred candidate to succeed him.
According to Gambari, the governors, after agreeing that the presidency should move to the South, requested an audience with Buhari to ascertain his position on the race.
“The 19 northern state governors came to Buhari after they had made a declaration that the next president of Nigeria should come from the South and they signed it,” he said.
He explained that the governors were keen to know whether Buhari, as leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), had already settled on a successor.
“They now said they wanted to see the President. And when I told him, and I said, they want to see you, he said what about? I said, they want to know whether you have an anointed candidate. You are their leader,” Gambari stated.
The former Chief of Staff stressed that his account was based strictly on what he personally witnessed, noting that he was present throughout the meeting.
“I was at that meeting, and I would like to talk about what I know, and they are all witnesses,” he said.
Gambari added that he personally relayed the governors’ question to Buhari and even used the opportunity to seek clarity for himself.
“They came. And I went to tell him, your guests are here. They want to know, do you have an anointed candidate for president and for the party nomination? And I said, by the way, I myself as your Chief of Staff, I would like to know,” he disclosed.
According to Gambari, Buhari’s response was clear and unambiguous. “And he said, I do not have an anointed candidate for president to be a successor,” Gambari revealed, adding that he advised the former president to relay the same message directly to the governors.
“And I told him, well, you have to tell them. And he told them, that’s what I know now,” he added.
Gambari emphasised that Buhari did not believe it was right to impose or anoint a successor.
“He didn’t feel that he should have anointed a candidate,” he said.
Responding to allegations that Buhari may have privately encouraged some aspirants, including former Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, Gambari said he could not speak on any conversations that took place outside the meeting.
“Of course, people can have an interpretation of what he told them in private. I’m not privy to that,” he said.
However, he maintained that Buhari’s public and official position before the governors was unmistakable.
“But clearly what he said on record that I, with the 19 northern state governors being there, is what I knew,” Gambari added.
In June 2022, both Amaechi and Osinbajo contested the presidential primary of the ruling APC but lost to the party’s national leader and former Lagos State governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Tinubu went on to win the 2023 presidential election, defeating former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi.