Buhari’s Running Mate: South West Presents Tinubu As VP South West leaders of the All Progressives Congress who met at the the Bourdillon, Lagos, residence of the Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have been mandated to present him as the sole running mate of General Muhammadu Buhari. None of the four governors of the South West, including former Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi, former Chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande and other party leaders present at the Bourdillon meeting, opposed the move. The governors of the four South West APC states – Babatunde Fashola (Lagos); Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun); Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo); Rauf Aregbesola (Osun) – were supposed to present Tinubu’s name at a meeting at the party secretariat in Abuja yesterday. The meeting was still ongoing at press time and it could not be ascertained if there had been a change of plan. Though there were reports that other zones, especially the South South, were still pressing for the ticket, it is not clear how the matter would be resolved ahead of the Thursday deadline of the Independent National Electoral Commission. Also on the list are Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi, his Edo State counterpart Adams Oshiomole, former Lagos State attorney-general and Commissioner for Justice, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), former Osun State governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Senator Olorunnmbe Mamora and Senator Ajayi Borofice. The party leadership is even polarised over which of the zones should produce the number two ticket. While the Tinubu camp wants it at all cost, citing the massive support given to Buhari at the just held convention in Lagos, coupled with the gentleman pact between Buhari and Tinubu that led to the merger. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo wants Oyinlola on the ticket if the party wants his support. Oshiomole is also considered despite coming from the national chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun’s state. Although, the social media reported yesterday that Osinbajo got the nod, a very senior national officer who claimed to have spoken with him said it remained a speculation. “I have just spoken with Yemi (Osinbajo) now and he did not tell me he had been chosen,” he said.” The deputy national chairman (North), Senator Lawal Shuaibu, disclosed that the party was not in a hurry to choose the running mate despite the media hype. “We are not in a hurry to choose the presidential running mate for General Buhari because a wrong choice could mar our chances during the election.” According to him, “there was never a meeting of how to choose the running mate for now until next (this) week when the leadership of the party would meet in Abuja to decide which zone in the would produce the running mate”. He then explained how the running mate would emerge from the favoured zone from the south. “Once we decided which of the zones would give us the running mate to our presidential candidate, the zone would go back home to shop for those they consider competent for the job and then send their names to the leadership of the party to pick the best on the list.” When he was told that the time may not be there to follow that process, he disagreed. “We are not in a hurry to choose our running mate because we are going into the race to win and not to merely participate and this means we have to be careful who we choose. We have up to December 25 to decide that.” He also explained that the party leadership would determine Buhari’s running mate as the candidate himself had said in an interview he granted shortly before the convention. The national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had in a statement issued at the weekend urged Nigerians to ignore the widespread and misleading reports in the traditional and social media about the choice of the APC presidential running mate, saying the party had yet to even meet, not to talk of picking a running mate. APC may pick Osinbajo as Buhari’s running mate There are other indications that the APC has endorsed Osinbajo as running mate to Buhari after wide consultation. Sources close to the party leadership said the choice of Osinbajo was because the party zoned the position to the south west part of the country. Osinbajo, a staunch Christian, was a former Lagos attorney-general when APC national leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was governor of Lagos State. The professor was said to have been endorsed after extensive consultations by stakeholders of the party in the zone who were keen to achieve the much desired Muslim, Christian ticket. He was said to have been picked owing to his unalloyed loyalty to Tinubu and considered more reliable over others earlier considered for the position. By this development, he may emerge as APC running mate ahead of other candidates like Amaechi and Oshiomhole who were earlier considered for the VP slot. It was gathered that the vice president’s slot has been zoned to the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) that merged with Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to form the new party. The party leadership is believed to have reasoned that since Buhari has taken the slot for the CPC, the other party in the merger, ACN, should take the second slot. Via LEADERSHIP
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 09:02:20 +0000
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