Tinubu is Very Influential For APC Presidential Ticket
Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2015
presidential election gathers momentum, the
South-west zone has emerged the "beautiful
bride" who the aspirants must court if they
must secure the ticket of the party to contest
the poll, THISDAY can authoritatively report.
It was gathered from party sources that the
emergence of the South-west zone as the
beautiful bride stems from two reasons, the
first being the immense influence a National
Leader of the APC and former Lagos State
Governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, still has on the
zone.
The second arises from the fact that the zone
will not be producing the presidential
candidate of the APC for the 2015 elections,
but still commands the highest number of
states controlled by the party and would
therefore be expected to produce a substantial
number of delegates who will determine the
outcome of the presidential primary
scheduled for December 2, 2014.
Accordingly, the major contenders for the
presidential ticket of the party comprising
former military Head of State, Major-General
Muhammadu Buhari; former Vice-President
Atiku Abubakar; and Kano State Governor,
Rabiu Kwankwaso, have been lobbying the
South-west governors ferociously to get their
support.
A highly-placed party source informed
THISDAY that it is important that the three
major presidential contenders enlist the
support of the five South-west governors, as
they in turn would be expected to tow
whatever line determined by Tinubu, their
leader.
He said: "As things stand today in the party,
the South-west remains up for grabs for all the
presidential contenders as the governors await
the directive of the 'oracle'."
The oracle refers to Tinubu, who is believed to
have considerable influence on the South-west
APC.
Although initial bets were on Tinubu throwing
his weight behind the candidature of Buhari
owing to the pre-merger deal they reached
early this year on the Muslim-Muslim ticket,
the party source informed THISDAY yesterday
that even Buhari was yet to receive any form
of material support from Tinubu, while none
of the governors in the South-west have been
given instructions to line up behind the retired
General.
"Asiwaju is not talking about the presidential
contest with anyone and so it is difficult to
decipher his thinking on the issue. The party in
the South-west is at a standstill because all the
governors of the party are apprehensive about
running into a collision with him on the
matter," the source said.
However, while the governors await Tinubu's
nod on the direction to head, THISDAY also
gathered that APC might alter the guidelines
for its primaries from the modified direct
primaries to indirect primaries, as well as cut
down the number of delegates who shall vote
at the party's presidential primary from an
unwieldy 300,000 to between 15,000 and
20,000.
APC had on August 21, at a National Executive
Committee meeting in Abuja, approved the
modified direct primaries for the selection of
its presidential candidate and other candidates
seeking to contest elective offices during next
year's general election.
The party also proposed October as the date to
commence the processes for the selection of
its presidential candidate.
Under the modified direct primaries system,
about 300,000 members would be required to
vote to determine the party's presidential
candidate.
But no sooner had the voting pattern been
adopted than it stirred controversy in the
party, followed by angry reactions from the
camps of some aspirants.
However, a party source explained that
convening a primary with 300,000 delegates
starting from the ward level would require
biometric capture of all its delegates, which
would be too costly to implement and time-
consuming.
"Also, the Electoral Act stipulates that the
presidential primary must be held in one
venue. There is no venue that can
accommodate 300,000 members except the
primaries are held at the ward level and other
levels, which is in contravention of the Act.
"So the plan is to change the guidelines by
adopting the indirect primaries to chose the
presidential candidate of the party, then to
prune down the number of delegates
drastically by selecting delegates from the
local government level and statutory
delegates.
"This way, we can limit the number of
delegates to a manageable number that can
vote at the presidential primary," the source
explained.
In another development, the main opposition
party has accused the Goodluck Jonathan
administration of seeking to negotiate the
timing of the release of the Chibok schoolgirls
to achieve maximum public relations' boost for
itself, rather than out of a genuine concern for
the girls, who are now in their sixth month in
captivity.
In a statement issued yesterday by its National
Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the
party claimed that the clearest evidence of the
government's manipulation of the girls'
release came during President Goodluck
Jonathan's recent visit to New York to attend
the UN General Assembly.
"Apparently assured, somehow, that the girls
were about to be released, the administration
had set up an elaborate publicity event in New
York, rented the necessary crowd and booked
back-to-back interviews with the international
media to enable the president to luxuriate in
the girls' release. This event was billed for the
five-star Pierre Hotel in Manhattan, close to
the UN headquarters.
"Nigerians will remember that on September
23, the military announced on Twitter, the
imminent release of the girls, only to retract
the statement shortly thereafter.
"In the intervening period, thousands of
'supporters' of the president had gathered at
the Pierre Hotel to welcome the president
after the release of the girls, while media
interviews had been booked for him.
"Such an occasion required prior organisation,
and therefore prior knowledge by both the
government and attendees of the timing of
any release of the girls.
"This whole episode was timed to also coincide
with President Jonathan's speech to the UN
General Assembly on the following day -
September 24th - and to secure maximum
advantage for the government.
"Somehow, the whole process collapsed like a
pack of cards, to the chagrin of those seeking
to exploit the innocent girls for political
advantage," it alleged.
APC condemned the shameless politicisation
of the plight of the Chibok girls, saying since
the incompetence of the Jonathan
administration led to the abduction of the girls
in the first instance, it must not seek to make
political capital out of their release.
"What should be paramount is securing the
release of the girls as soon as possible, not
securing their release to fit with a schedule
that benefits Goodluck Jonathan politically.
"For the girls, their parents and indeed all
good people of Nigeria, this abduction saga has
been a nightmare. It is time for it to end," the
party said.
It said the same Jonathan administration that
rebuffed appeals from well-meaning Nigerians
to negotiate the release of the girls in their
early days in captivity has suddenly swung into
feverish action, sending its cronies to
negotiate with the abductors and even
expressing the readiness to swap the Boko
Haram commanders for the girls.
"We believe the government should do
whatever it takes to secure the safe release of
the girls. We believe nothing is too much to do
to get the girls back home safely and bring the
much-needed relief to their parents and
families.
"But we suspect the government's sudden
effort, which is undoubtedly aimed at giving a
boost to President Jonathan's candidacy for
next year's presidential election.
"This is most unconscionable, most exploitative
and blatantly shameless. It confirms what we
have been saying all along that the Jonathan
administration knows more about the Boko
Haram insurgency than it has admitted, and
that the administration is exploiting the
insurgency for the president's re-election.
.
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