There are strong indications that the vested interest of a former Lagos State governor and national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, in picking the vice presidential candidate may tear the party apart.
The presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, is said to prefer Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi as his running mate.
However, a source close to the party leadership said, Buhari has conceded to Mr. Tinubu to pick his vice because the latter insisted on doing so.
The governors from the south who are being considered for the vice presidential position are Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Adams (Edo) and Babatunde Fasola (Lagos).
But, while Amaechi and Fasola’s eight-year term expires May 29, 2015, Oshiomhole has up till November 28, 2016 to complete his second term in office.
It was learnt that Tinubu, who is strategically positioning himself for a more commanding role at the centre in the event of an APC victory, is intent on producing a loyal running mate to 72-year old Buhari in case of any eventuality.
The former Lagos governor is said to be joggling his options in the south; and, as a source put it: “Fasola is not one of the options, the reason being that Tinubu wants to be one to benefit from the Muslim-Muslim ticket, if the party wants to dare Nigerians by presenting them with it.”
There are strong indications from the party that vested interests are poised to fight the issue to the finish, a development which may fracture the party except there is emergence of a compromise candidate who is yet to feature in the various options being reported in the media.
Amaechi, as chairman of a faction of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), has played a role of rallying the APC governors in the campaign to dislodge President Goodluck Jonathan from office in 2015.
The governors are said to be insisting that, having helped to realize the formation of a formidable opposition party and galvanize the anti-Jonathan sentiments in the opposition camp, one of them should be nominated as vice presidential candidate.
They were also said to have particularly argued that having, almost single-handed, facilitated the emergence of Buhari as presidential candidate, it would not be in the interest of party harmony and cohesion for Tinubu to circumvent the interest of the governors’ camp in the party’s presidential ticket.
