Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade announced at Aso Villa, Abuja that President Muhammadu Buhari had asked him to bid for the ticket. Nwajiuba said he was still consulting on whether to join the race.

Ayade added he would be flexible with his quest for the party’s presidential ticket. He promised to support any person the party’s delegates settle for. The governor said: “I didn’t come to the President to tell him I’m running.

“I went to the President to tell him I’m here to join him, to support him in the process of producing his successor and that peradventure power is to go to the South, I’m the only sitting governor from the Southsouth.

“The President didn’t allow me to finish and says: ‘I know you’ and recounted our relationship.

“I asked him: ‘Can I? Because I’m not here for that unless you say so.’

“So, if you ask me the question, am I running? My answer is that I am running because the President has said: ‘You go while I watch’.

“I want you to report me intellectually. I want you to understand that truly, outside all the cheap talks, the truth is that my approach to being President is different. I will support the President’s candidate.

“Even though I’m on standby, I will support the President’s candidate and the President said: ‘You are not outside of my view. Go, I give you blessing, go and consult; ensure that you engage with key people while I watch.’

“I think it’s a clear indication that I have the right to go and try, to go and declare. So I will.”