Some presidential aspirants who contested against Bola Tinubu, in the primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have refused to take active roles in the campaign of the flagbearer.
The aspirants who refused to take active roles in the Tinubu campaign include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, and former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi.
Newsflash Nigeria understands that the party’s leadership has begun moves to appease the former presidential aspirants.
The trio of Osinbajo, Lawan, and Amaechi have remained noncommittal towards the presidential bid of Tinubu and activities in the ruling party.
Sources have accused Bola Tinubu of not consulting widely with key stakeholders, especially with the trio, on issues that concern his presidential campaign, preferring, instead, to speak to Northern APC governors.
“Instead, he has been working closely with APC governors from the North, who also insisted that he must pick a Northern Muslim who is a governor as his running mate,” a source told Saturday SUN.
“Osinbajo, who is the highest political office holder from the South, was not consulted. Amaechi too was not consulted. It is the same thing with Lawan.
“These are key party leaders who still have their bases intact. They didn’t play any role. Some of his kitchen cabinet members said he didn’t consult Osinbajo because he knew he would not support a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“Amaechi, who appears to be the favourite of Northern Christian minorities, has been ignored. Now that Tinubu and his men seem to have run into trouble with the choice of a Muslim-Muslim issue, they’re looking for who to assuage the Christian community.”
Another source disclosed that the Abdullahi Adamu-led National Working Committee is worried over the failure of Tinubu to reach out to Osinbajo, Amaechi, and Lawan over the controversial Muslim-Muslim ticket.
He said while Lawan may not pose a severe problem, Osinbajo and Amaechi might be hard nuts to crack. The APC chieftain said the duo opposed a Muslim-Muslim ticket and might not openly campaign for Tinubu.
“The APC NWC waited for Tinubu and his camp to kick start the reconciliation process. That didn’t happen. So, Adamu had to step in. They’ve been reaching out and trying to ensure that the party is united.
“The party has lost the majority of Christian leaders. It will be risky to go into a major election like this and still ignore aspirants. The party is running against time, and they want to beat the deadline before campaigns start in September.
It is not in my place to predict if they’ll succeed. But they’re very far from achieving that support they’re looking for. The coming days will tell if things will change. That’s our wish. The election will be a tough sell for APC,” the Northern APC leader told The SUN.
