Horse-Trading As APC Leaders Fail To Agree On Buhari’s Running Mate

A marathon meeting by the leaders of the All Progressives Congress ended in the early hours of Tuesday(today) without a consensus on the running mate for the party’s presidential candidate, Maj.Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

Unlike the national convention/ primary which produced Buhari on Thursday without much rancour, the meeting which started at about 10.30pm on Wednesday and ended at about 1.58am on Tuesday was said to have been characterised by intense horse-trading.

Different caucuses of the APC had started a series of meetings which culminated in a larger one that had all the party’s governors and leaders in attendance.

Punch reports that the National leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, did not attend the enlarged caucus meeting.

Before the enlarged meeting which held at the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja, rose, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha had left.

They did not return as of 12. 50am when Buhari and some other participants, including seven governors, started filing out of the lodge.

The aspirants being considered are Governors Rotimi Amaechi(Rivers), Babatunde Fashola(Lagos), Adams Oshiomhole(Edo) and a former Lagos State Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Yemi Osibajo.

Others whose names came up were former governors Dr. Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti State), former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola (Osun State) and former governor Adeniyi Adebayo (Ekiti State)

A seven-member committee headed by Chief Tony Momoh was set up to prune down the number of aspirants. It has representatives from each zone of the country.

They include Chief Bisi Akande (South-West), Senator Chris Ngige (South-East), Senator Danjuma Goje (North-East), Chief Audu Ogbe (North-Central), Chief Sam Jaja (South-South) and Governor Yari Abubakar (North-West).

The enlarged meeting will reconvene by 12pm today.

The caucus arrived at two major decisions which included the rejection of Muslim-Muslim ticket.