• Douses tension over who gets the APC ticket
By Oluwafemi Popoola
As the frantic race of who wins the presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC) gets more heated and flurried, Laolu Akande, the Spokesman to Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has said his principal is in the race to win.
Akande, had, on Thursday expressed optimism over the chances of his principal, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, in securing the APC presidential ticket ahead of the party’s primary elections scheduled to hold in May of this year.
He gave this indication when contacted on Thursday, on the issue of the Vice President’s political future as the party has set the date for the primaries, with some expressing mixed feelings over what may be its outcome.
Recalled the party held its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on Wednesday, April 20, but reading out its outcome, the party was silent on the issue of zoning and the format its presidential primaries, most importantly, will take.
Twenty four hours after, it was still yet to formally settle for which format it will take, whether through direct or indirect primaries or by consensus arrangement as it was done for the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), who are the national executive members of the party.
Among the top contenders for the APC presidential ticket are Vice President Osinbajo, who made his intention known to run for the office of the President on Monday, April 10, 2022, ending months of speculations and uncertainties surrounding his political future, and a former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who had declared his intention three months ago.
Vice President Osinbajo and Asiwaju Tinubu, the national leader of the APC, have both stepped up efforts to lobby state governors ahead of the party’s presidential primaries, heightening concerns from their supporters and Nigerians generally on who gets the ticket.
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However, as the APC party on Wednesday, April 20, 2022, held its 11th APC National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Transcop Hilton, Abuja and there were strong indications that the presidential candidate of the party for the 2023 election will emerge through indirect primaries.
The party had also fixed N100 million for the expression of interest and nomination presidential forms and N50 million for governorship forms.
Also, news broke out earlier in the week before the APC NEC that some businessmen announced they raised N97 million so far and had offered to purchase the N100 million form for the Vice President, even before the amount was fixed by the party.
But to probe further on how the Vice President would be able to gather such a huge fund, as gathered from a top villa source who is privy to the issue, The Daily Leaks was reliably informed that “there are many options and part of which is that many credible supporting groups have offered to foot the bill.”
Speaking further, the source said: “Interested stakeholders have made offers, amongst many supporters who want to pay.”
