According to Premium Times, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) John Odigie-Oyegun, has said the party would on Wednesday announced its vice presidential candidate for the February 14 election.
He stated this in an interview with journalists on Tuesday in Abuja. The opposition party had elected a former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, as its presidential candidate at its national convention in Lagos on Thursday.
Since Mr. Buhari’s emergence, the leadership of the party has met a number of times to pick his running mate before their names are submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
A meeting held Tuesday for the purpose ended in a deadlock.
There were speculations that a leader of the party and former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, did not only canvass the nomination of Mr. Buhari’s running mate from the South West geo-political zone, but also pushed for himself to be named for the position.
It was further gathered that Mr. Tinubu also pushed the name of a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Yemi Osibajo (SAN), in the event that his quest to be the vice presidential candidate failed.
Some party members, it was learnt, have kicked against the Buhari-Tinubu ticket because both are Muslums. The possible choice of either Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State or Adams Oshiomhole of Edo has also been touted.
Efforts by Premium Times to speak with Mr. Odigie-Oyegun were not successful as he did not answer or return repeated calls to his mobile telephone. However, a senior member of the party, who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak, told this newspaper on Tuesday evening that “Tinubu’s quest to be the vice presidential candidate is the dilemma the party is facing.”
He said the matter would be resolved in the next few hours because the names of the presidential and vice presidential candidates have to be submitted to INEC by Wednesday or Thursday, Premium Times reported.
Source: Premium Times