APC Presidential Ticket: Tinubu Still Holds the Key

Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu

• 20,000 to vote in primary as party accuses Jonathan of politicising Chibok girls’ plight

Chuks Okocha and
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja  

As the contest for the ticket of the All 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.

“Decent Nigerians are undoubtedly scandalised at this exploitative and deceitful behaviour of their government, and it must stop forthwith,” APC said