Choice of Buhari’s running mate: Deadlock in APC Leaders of the All Progressives Congress(APC) as of Friday failed to pick the running mate of the party’s presidential candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, as a meeting held Thursday night on the issue in Lagos was deadlocked. Sources in the party told Saturday Tribune that leaders of the party in attendance at the meeting failed to agree on who runs with the party’s presidential candidate as the South West insisted on having the post. It was gathered that the meeting ended without a decision because of the sharp disagreement among the leaders, especially when a suggestion was made indicating the choice of Governor Rotimi Amaechi as Buhari’s running mate. The frontline candidates for the post, according to sources, include Governor Amaechi; Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole; legal luminary, Professor Yemi Osibajo; Lagos State governor. Babatunde Fashola and former governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi. Sources told Saturday Tribune that APC leaders from the South West are insisting that the zone must be on the ballot to guarantee votes from the zone for the party. A source said that former Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, who is leading the charge from the South West, had insisted that without a Southwest candidate on the ballot as vice president, the people of the zone might not vote for the party. It was, however, gathered that Amaechi has emerged the leading candidate so far with the support of Buhari apparently because of his huge financial commitment to the Buhari project. It was, however, gathered that the elders will converge on Abuja on Monday to take a final decision on the matter. The party has up till December 18 to submit its list of candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Rumour was rife on Friday night that Amaechi had been picked as running-mate to Buhari. A member of the National Working Committee of the party told Saturday Tribune that the running-mate producing zone in the south had not been chosen as of Thursday night. Saturday Tribune had exclusively reported a power-sharing deal between the founding members of the party and those who defected to it from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). While the original members would produce the presidential candidate, the defected PDP elements were to pick the running-mate. With Buhari, a founding member emerging as the presidential candidate from the North amidst four other newcomers, the understanding, according to findings, was for the South to present a VP candidate among those who defected. The VP slot was reportedly conceded to the party’s governors’ forum by Buhari as part of deals leading to its adoption of the retired general as its preferred presidential candidate. No official confirmation came as of press time. Calls put through to the mobile lines of the party’s national spokesperson, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, went unanswered. A source close to Amaechi said the rumour might not be a reality yet, though the governor’s camp was upbeat about it. The rumoured choice of Amaechi was said to have thrown the ruling PDP into a spin, culminating in a flurry of political activities reportedly aimed at curtailing the expected surge of the Buhari/Amaechi ticket. Despite the mocking reaction to Buhari’s emergence by the ruling party on Thursday, a new burst of energy being reportedly expended in chasing after disgruntled members could be a pointer to the party’s genuine thought about latest happenings in the opposition fold. PDP members who had left the party in frustration or showing open disavowal of the treatment meted out to them are said to have started receiving conciliatory messages from the leadership of the party, suing for peace. Immediately after Buhari’s emergence, top-notchers of the ruling party were said to be showing more interest in who would emerge as his running-mate in order to plan ahead of the official announcement
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 06:17:27 +0000
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