•How presidential battle will be fought
THE battle for the vice-presidential slot of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has pitched the South-West geopolitical zone against the South-South in a hot contest.
Investigations by Sunday Tribune revealed that though the presidential candidate of the party, General Muhammadu Buhari, is ready to yield much ground to former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, the position of other stakeholders is not making the decision on the vice-presidential slot an easy one.
Sources confirmed that while Buhari had told Tinubu that he expected him to lead the way in picking the running mate to the standard-bearer, he had also assured the governor of Rivers State, Chief Rotimi Amaechi, of his readiness to pick him as running mate.
Sources said the division within the party on the issue became sharp on Friday as the leaders converged for a meeting to select the running mate.
While Amaechi relied on Buhari’s promise for the post, which had influenced his decision to almost singlehandedly take over the funding of the campaign, Tinubu insisted that the South-West ought to be on the ballot.
This, it was said, had caused the Amaechi camp to be unhappy with Tinubu.
Other contenders for the running mate slot include the governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole; former governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; and legal luminary, Professor Yemi Osibajo.
It was learnt that party leaders decided to go and rest after the exhaustive national convention and reconvened in Abuja on Monday for continuation of the meeting.
Those in the know in the party were said to have been surprised about the insistence of the South-West on the vice-presidential slot, following the long understanding that Amaechi could have it.
It was gathered that one of the key issues bugging down the decision on Buhari’s running mate is the issue of how to placate governors of the party who had earlier insisted that one of them should be on the ballot for Buhari to earn their support.
Besides the silent understanding to gift Amaechi the running mate ticket, there are also fears among other stakeholders that Tinubu’s choice from the South-West may not be a governor.
A source in the party said that the former Lagos governor is hoping to push through the candidature of Osibajo, whom he believes has the strong character to check Buhari.
Tinubu is said to be wary of both Fayemi and Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola.
Besides, Fashola is a Muslim, a development that would make his choice orchestrate the Muslim/Muslim contention.
The contest for the running mate to Buhari has, so far, pitched Amaechi and former Kwara State governor, Senator Bukola Saraki, against Tinubu, it was gathered at the weekend.
It was learnt that the contest is becoming fierce because of the thinking that whoever emerges running mate to Buhari would do much of the governance, in case the APC wins the presidency, as the former head of state is considered too old to withstand the rigours of governance.
“The fear in Tinubu’s camp is that having conceded the presidential ticket to Buhari, it would be unwise to give away the running mate ticket too. That is why the Tinubu camp has insisted, so far, that the party risks losing the votes from the South-West, if a Yoruba candidate is not on the ballot,” a source said on Saturday.
But another source insisted that Amaechi stood a better chance to draw more votes to the ticket, if given the slot.
According to the argument from Amaechi’s camp, the South-West produced a running mate to Buhari and Nuhu Ribadu in 2011 and they refused to vote for the two tickets.
“If the issue of being on ballot is stretched further, it cannot hold water. After all, the South-West produced running mate to Nuhu Ribadu as presidential candidate of the then ACN and Buhari who ran n the ticket of the CPC. They didn’t vote for the two parties. Only Ribadu won in Osun State,” the source said, adding that the Amaechi camp could not understand why Tinubu was opposed to the choice of Rivers governor emerging as Buhari’s running mate.
Source: Tribune
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