The party is scheduled to hold primaries later this week to choose its presidential candidate.

The elections are due in February next year.

In his address to the governors, the president said the party's candidate "must be someone who would give the Nigerian masses a sense of victory and confidence even before the elections".

"I wish to solicit the reciprocity and support of the governors and other stakeholders in picking my successor, who would fly the flag of our party for election into the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2023," he said at the meeting held at the presidential villa in the capital, Abuja.