The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, former Transport minister, Rotimi Amaechi and other notable presidential aspirants who contested during the presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were shunned at a peace meeting of the party.
Newsflash Nigeria understands that the party’s presidential aspirants were scheduled to meet in Abuja on Wednesday, and failed to attend a peace meeting with the presidential candidate of the party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
It was reported that the reconciliation meeting slated for yesterday in Abuja would create a platform to mend fences among Tinubu, Vice President Yemi Osibanjo, Lawan, Amaechi and others who contested the presidential primary in June this year.
Tinubu polled 1,271 votes to clinch the party’s presidential ticket at the special national convention, which had 23 aspirants, with nine withdrawing from the contest before the commencement of the primary election
Newsflash Nigeria gathered that the aspirants were scheduled to meet by 2:00 p.m. at Transcorp Hilton on Wednesday to brainstorm and come up with viable strategies to support the presidential candidate of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
However, a few hours before the commencement of the meeting, Dr Nicolas Felix, one of the presidential aspirants and convener of the meeting, announced its postponement without giving a reason and noted that a new date will be communicated soon.
“Please be informed that the strategic meeting of 2023 Presidential Aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC), scheduled to hold on Wednesday the 31st of August has been postponed.
“A new date for the meeting will be communicated soon. Apologies for any inconvenience(s) that this might cause,” he stated.
The aborted meeting sought to address some factors such as a conciliatory move to reconcile aggrieved members, challenges bedevilling the country, inclusive politics and adoption of winning campaign strategies to coast home to victory ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Among those expected were Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; former Science and Technology Minister, Ogbonnaya Onu; former Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba and former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio.
Five serving governors, namely Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), Ben Ayade (Cross River) and Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) were also expected.
Others were the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan; former Ogun State governor and serving senator, Ibikunle Amosun; a serving senator, Ajayi Boroffice; former Zamfara governor, Ahmad Sani; former Imo State governor and serving senator, Rochas Okorocha; a former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole; fiery cleric, Tunde Bakare; Pastor and Businessman, Dr Nicolas Felix; former Information Minister, Ikeobasi Mokelu; Businessman, Tein Jack-Rich and the only female among them, Uju Ken-Ohanenye.
A source close to one of the presidential aspirants, however, told journalists that most of the key presidential aspirants invited to the meeting did not show interest, adding that a particular aspirant from the North did not even acknowledge the invitation letter sent to him.
The source, a party chieftain who did not want his name in print, said, “It seems some of these aspirants are yet to come to terms with our presidential candidate because some of them are not seen to be rallying the needed support for the party yet.
“All of them are well informed about this meeting. The organisers even issued a statement twice to remind them but some did not show interest at all. I can tell you that only nine of them were ready to attend. These nine aspirants are among the heavyweights we expected to show up”.
Vice President Osinbajo left Abuja for the United States of America yesterday morning to seek global partnerships and support for Nigeria’s recently launched Energy Transition Plan.
Another source who spoke on condition of anonymity Tinubu’s romance with leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), especially the Rivers State governor is the reason why Ameachi shunned the peace meeting.
According to the source, the Minister, who came second in the presidential primary election, “felt slighted that Tinubu and his men were making overtures to Governor Nysom Wike.”
Another source within the party, who was privy to the development, told our correspondent that aside from Felix, no other aspirant was interested in the meeting.
According to him, the majority of the former aspirants were still in shock that the former Lagos Governor won the June 8 primary election.
He said, “I can confidently tell you that over 19 of them are not ready to work with Asiwaju to win the 2023 election. How many of them have you seen talking about Tinubu?
“The election didn’t go as expected and some of us are still in shock. Having a strategy to sell our candidate is a major issue.”
Also, the APC chieftain, who pleaded anonymity, further disclosed that the body language of the presidential aspirants and some party members who participated in the presidential primary was clear.
“We can’t be seen converging for anything that has to do with Asiwaju (Bola Tinubu, APC presidential candidate) at this critical moment. Not even when the presidential candidate himself is seeing the majority of us as not being instrumental to his winning the 2023 election.
“I must say Felix has tried his best. But it is not his duty to call for such a conciliatory meeting. That initiative was dead on arrival. Both the party and Asiwaju himself have a lot of work to do before the 2023 election,” he said.
But another source disclosed that the event failed to hold because none of the aspirants showed up, noting that most of them were unhappy with Tinubu.
Also, a source in the Tinubu campaign team, said Felix did not have the mandate to convene the meeting.
The source stated, “He is on his own. Nobody told him to convene the meeting. He did not carry other aspirants along. The meeting is not a pro-Tinubu meeting.”
When asked if Governor Bello had any grievances against the APC presidential candidate, the Director of Media and Publicity for Yahaya Bello Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mrs Yemi Kolapo, dismissed the report.
Kolapo maintained that the Kogi State Governor was committed to working for Tinubu’s victory ahead of the February 25 presidential poll.
She said, “You are listening to rumours. Has the campaign even started? If there is one aspirant that is totally committed to a landslide win for the APC presidential candidate in the 2023 election, that aspirant is Governor Yahaya Bello.
“Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is tested and trusted. And with the great support we have right now across the country, he will be the next President. Don’t let us create a crisis where there is none.”
The only female presidential aspirant on the platform of the party, Ohanenye, said she could not attend the meeting because her mother was sick, the Punch reports.
“I took permission that I won’t be able to come; my mother is not feeling well. I told the convener I won’t be able to make it,’’ she said
Asked why the Senate President did not attend the event, Lawan’s Special Adviser, Mr Ola Awoniyi, simply said he had not been briefed.
The media aide to the former Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Aniete Ekong, promised to find out why his principal did not attend the programme. But he failed to respond to subsequent phone calls from our correspondent.
Osinbajo could not be reached for comment on Wednesday as his media aide, Laolu Akande, did not respond to calls. He had yet to reply to a text message sent to him as of the time of filing this report.
However, he had earlier issued a statement early on Wednesday that Osinbajo travelled to the United States to attend an energy summit.
The development, it was learnt, might have been responsible for his failure to attend the APC presidential aspirants’ strategy session.
