16th December, 2014
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari will now pick his running mate by himself.
His party threw the ball back in his court early today after frenetic meetings in Abuja failed to yield a consensus vice-presidential candidate.
There have been all kinds of speculations on the VP pick for the party, with some reports tipping former Lagos State Justice Commissioner and Attorney-General, Professor Yemi Osibajo, Governors Rotimi Amaechi and Adams Oshiomhole.
But P.M.NEWS learnt that leaders of the All Progressives Party, APC, in the Southwest geopolitical zone have cast their lot on former governor of Lagos State and national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as Buhari’s running mate.
They came to this conclusion after series of meetings held in Lagos and Abuja on Monday.
The late-night meeting ended in a deadlock at about 2am Tuesday in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, with the three southern geo-political zones not reaching a consensus on the issue.
Leaders of the APC Southwest had reached the decision to support Tinubu’s candidature at an earlier meeting before joining a larger meeting at the Lodge of the Rivers State Governor in Abuja.
At the Rivers Governor’s Lodge, the Southwest leaders of the party insisted on Tinubu as their choice, although there were indications that Governor Raji Fashola and former Governor Kayode Fayemi were also interested in the number two position in the country.
P.M.NEWS learnt that some political leaders at the meeting also insisted it should be either Governor Rotimi Amaechi or Governor Adams Oshiomhole of the Southsouth zone, but this position is weakened by the fact that the chairman of the party is also from the South-south.
Sources close to the meeting said the party’s presidential candidate attended the meeting and when a resolution was not in sight, it was resolved that a committee be set up to submit a name.
But this option was dropped over disagreements on the composition of the committee.
The final decision is that Muhammadu Buhari should pick his running mate out of the names being suggested.
APC leaders at the meeting were asked to submit three names from three geopolitical zones: Southwest, Southsouth and Southeast.
The Southwest leaders of the party were said to have picked Tinubu as their choice.
The calculation is that Tinubu’s political clout would garner massive votes for APC in the presidential election taking place on 14 February, 2015.
The delay in picking a running mate for Buhari, according to an APC leader, is because the party wants to pick a candidate that will be a political heavyweight and that would be in the overall interest of Nigerians.
Oshiomhole and Amaechi, were initial frontrunners for the post because some leaders of the APC feel that Southsouth should produce the vice-president in order to cut down the votes of President Goodluck Jonathan, who is also from the geo-political zone.
The meeting in Ikoyi which was presided over by the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was attended by former interim National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, Segun Oni, Deputy National Chairman, South; Pius Akinyelure, Vice Chairman, South West; Tajudeen Olawutan Bello, National Financial Secretary; Lai Mohammed, National Publicity Secretary; Dr Muiz Banire, National Legal Adviser among others.
Political parties participating in the 2015 elections have up to 18 December to submit names of their candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.