Muhammadu Buhari, the
presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has picked Yemi
Osinbajo, former attorney-general of Lagos state, as his running mate.
TheCable reports
Osinbajo’s possible nomination had been on the cards for months, and had exclusively reported in August that Tinubu was strongly considering the lawyer,
who served him as attorney-general between 1999 and 2007.
Buhari
will submit his nomination form to the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) on Wednesday, a day to the deadline, after nearly one
week of negotiation and horse-trading on who should be
his vice-presidential candidate.
Rotimi
Amaechi, governor of Rivers state, had made a spirited bid to be chosen, but
met with a brick wall with the zoning of the position to the south-west.
On
Tuesday night, intense politicking threatened to mar the spirit in the
party, as Amaechi made a last-ditch effort but was told by the retired general
that Bola Tinubu, national leader of APC, would be the one to recommend the
running mate.
Amaechi
had succeeded in getting the enlarged meeting of the party’s leadership to
oppose a Muslim-Muslim ticket, which Tinubu’s nomination was going to produce,
but he was unable to benefit from the new development.
At
a meeting with Buhari on Tuesday, Amaechi, according to sources who spoke with
TheCable, made a case for the south-south to be given the VP slot because of
the likely backlash in the oil-producing region if President Goodluck Jonathan
loses the election.
He
also told Buhari that it would be impossible for the APC to campaign in the
Niger Delta with neither No 1 nor No 2 on offer for the region.
But
Buhari reportedly told him that he had already agreed that the position should
go to the south-west.
The
governor invested heavily in Buhari’s campaign, paying for chartered
flights, new vehicles and financing local and international media campaign
to promote the candidacy of the former military head of state.
Osinbajo overcame last-minute
challenge from other south-westerners such as former governors Kayode
Fayemi, Niyi Adebayo and Olagunsoye Oyinlola.
No comments:
Post a Comment