Leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday evening met in Victoria Island, Lagos, to decide on a running mater for Muhammadu Buhari, who was coasting home to victory in the party’s presidential primary, TheCable understands. The meeting, which was put together by Bola Tinubu, APC national leader, has all the major party chieftains in attendance, including Buhari himself. Rotimi Amaechi, governor of Rivers state, is highly favoured to pick the slot but Yemi Osibajo, a professor of law and former attorney-general of Lagos state under Tinubu, is also being considered. Kayode Fayemi, former governor of Ekiti state, is also thought to be in the running, but he is said to have lost the trust of Tinubu after a series of incidents this year, leading to his failure to get re-elected as governor.
Fayemi was also reported to have antagonised Tinubu during the party’s convention in June, and the former governor of Lagos state is said to have developed cold feet at his possible candidature. Tinubu is not particularly disposed to Amaechi because of his temperament, but Buhari had promised him the VP slot before he fully threw his financial weight behind the retired general, TheCable learnt. Babatunde Fashola, governor of Lagos state, was highly favoured to be running mate but the issue of Muslim-Muslim ticket effectively threw him out of the equation. Other south-west APC governors are all Muslims, making it politically complicated to pick any of them.
Source: The Cable
