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| former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Head of State, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) |
The All Progressives Congress leaders have been meeting to avert likely
crisis that may trail its presidential primary scheduled to hold in a
few weeks from now.
Saturday PUNCH
authoritatively learnt in Abuja on Thursday that the leaders had begun
discussions with aspirants on the need to make the forthcoming primary
less acrimonious.
As part of the moves to ensure peace in the party, the leadership is said to be pursuing the option of a consensus candidate.
The race for the ticket appears to be keenest between the former Head of
State, Maj.-Gen.Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) and former Vice-President
Atiku Abubakar.
But analysts believe that the Kano State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Kwakwanso’s interest in the party ticket cannot be ignored.
It was gathered that the APC National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun, and
national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, had separately held at least two
informal meetings with Buhari and Atiku.
It was also learnt that the two leaders had made personal appeals to the
presidential aspirants to consider “the greater good” of the party.
However, none of the two aspirants has shown readiness to back out of the move to get the party’s presidential ticket.
The two leading aspirants had used recent party events to reach out to party loyalists and the would- be-delegates.
The latest being the APC recent mobilisation efforts in Sokoto and Lokoja where the party received some defectors.
But a chieftain of the APC in the South-East, Mr. Osita Okechukwu,
confirmed that the party was aware that there would be challenges from
the early stage, especially in the build-up to the primary, adding that
the party had been holding meetings over the issue.
He said, “Many aspirants have expressed interest in the APC presidential
ticket and all of them are qualified, so the party is considering
whether to go for direct or indirect primary. But some of us are of the
opinion that consensus may be better.
“But the likely challenge is that the person with a fat pocket may win
the primary, considering the fact that he can just sit somewhere and
control the situation of things.”
The APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, expressed
anger on insinuation of a likely difficulty in resolving the issue of
three strong candidates seeking the party’s presidential ticket.
He said, “The primary is yet to hold. We should leave them till when the
time comes. As long as the process is transparent, the party will
resolve the matter.”
Meanwhile, plans are underway by the Northern Elders Forum to set up a
committee that will harmonise the positions of northern leaders ahead of
the 2015 presidential poll.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that since the Peoples Democratic Party endorsed
President Goodluck Jonthan as its sole candidate, prominent northern
groups, especially the NEF, had stepped up efforts to ensure that a
northerner wins the presidential poll.
Investigations showed that the proposal to set up a committee of eminent
persons was taken so that they could work behind the scene to find a
common ground on the 2015 Presidency.
It was gathered that the elders were disturbed that northern leaders
were sharply divided over the issue of presidential aspirants.
It was learnt that the NEF was reaching out to other groups, including
the Arewa Consultative Forum, to sort out the differences among northern
leaders on the issue.
For example, a prominent member of the ACF, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, is a known supporter of Atiku.
A former Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Commasie, who is the ACF chairman, is known to have a soft spot for Buhari.
A source, who confided in one of our correspondents, said, “We will soon
set up a committee to sort out all these issues; our collective
interest is uppermost.”
When contacted, the spokesman for the NEF, Prof. Ango Abdullahi,
declined to confirm the group’s plan on the committee, saying the elders
would not reveal their strategies.
He, however, said that the PDP governors in the North could not save
Jonathan from being defeated in the February 14, 2015 election.
Condemning the ruling party’s endorsement of Jonathan, he said, “Since
the PDP has already closed its doors, the North has closed its doors to
the PDP.
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