…Inside Story
…Powerplay
…Governors Who Made Him
June 08, (THEWILL) – Against the run of play, former Lagos governor, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, pulled all the stops to win the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the Special Convention of the party held at the Eagles Square in Abuja from June 6 to 8, 2022.
When in early January this year, he made public his lifelong ambition to become president of Nigeria, many thought he had gone too far. Some even called him a joker. No sitting or past president of Nigeria ever made their intentions known publicly.
They kept it to themselves. Speaking his mind publicly on his lifelong ambition seemed to cultured folk an act of indiscretion on Tinubu’s part that was sure to hurt him in the primaries.
Yet, as the results of APC presidential primary show, BAT is inching quite close to fulfilling his lifelong ambition to rule Nigeria. As he once said, he is a kingmaker who wants to be king.
Tinubu polled 1,271 votes to beat his closest rival, former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who scored 316 votes.
Closely following Amaechi, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo polled 235 votes, while the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan got 152 votes, Governor Yayaha Bello of Kogi State scored 47 votes and his Ebony State counterpart, Dave Umahi, polled 38 votes.
A former Governor of Zamfara State, Ahmed Yerima, scored 4 votes, while former Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, who withdrew from the race and did not appear at the convention, got 1 vote.
Other presidential aspirants, such as Pastor Tunde Bakare, Senator Rochas Okorocha and Chief IkeObasi Mokelu got zero votes each. Thirteen votes were voided because they had no signatures and could not be allotted to any candidate.
Interestingly, Tinubu took the lead in all 40 ballot boxes used at the event.
In all, 23 aspirants who participated in the primary contested for the votes of 2,322 delegates. Nine withdrew or stepped down and the remaining 14 finished the race.
Beside Tinubu, other contestants were Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan; former Zamfara State governor, Ahmed Yerima, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and his counterpart from Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi; Ben Ayade of Cross Rivers State; Mohammed Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa State and Yayaha Bello of Kogi State.
Others were Senator Ajayi Boroffice; former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole; former Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosu; ex-President of the Senate, Ken Nnamani, who had stepped down on the eve of the special convention, but had to formally do so during the event; former Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, who did not make an appearance when he was called to address the delegates, explaining later that the refusal of the party to keep to its earlier promise to zone the presidency exclusively to the South and then, for fairness, to the Southeast geo-political, made him to stay away.
Former Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonaya Onu; Pastor Tunde Bakare; Rotimi Amaechi; former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Goodswill Akpabio; Pastor Nwagbo; Jack-Rich Tien; Chief Ikeobasi Nwokelu; Dr Michael Felix; former Imo state governor, Senator Rochas Okorocah and Mrs Uju-Kennedy Ohaneye completed the list of 23. Out of them, 19 withdrew or stopped, while 14 others went on to complete the exercise.
In his acceptance speech, Tinubu thanked President Buhari, Senator Lawan, House of Reps Speaker, Femi Gbajiagbamila and Chairman Adamu, as well as those who stepped down for him, for their support for his ambition and urged party members to celebrate a successful convention and the continued growth of the party.
Taking a swipe at the PDP, he said, “We will repair our country and make it the best for our children. The appellation All Progressives Congress means we are builders and not destroyers.”
He praised Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State and the Chairman of Progressives Governors Forum for playing a major role in his victory. “Forward we are moving. No destroyers can take our country. Let men and women in uniform to continue to fight for the survival of our country. You won’t sacrifice for nothing.
Calling his wife “Mama 60,” to the cheer of the audience, he praised her for being on his side despite his continued absence from home because of his involvement in politics.”
Tinubu also called on Nigerians to rise above religious fanaticism and follow the injunction to love their neighbours as themselves and to reject the use of dangerous weapons to settle quarrels.
He said, “We are human beings that must live together. No one religion is better than the other. We need perseverance and love for one another. The love you cannot replenish, the life you cannot bring back, if you take it, will hunt you and you will not leave in peace. You create agony, you get agony. Create hatred and get agony.
“Let us be determined and use our brains and vision to build a new nation for us.”
A few days to the convention, the APC presidential candidate had drawn the anger of many members of his party when, at a meeting with delegates in Ogun State, he boosted about his onerous, strategic role in making President Muhammed Buhari and his host, Dapo Abiodun, the current governor of Ogun State.
The APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, reacted immediately by announcing that the party would sanction him for the remark which it considered to be a slight on the personality of the President while the presidency frowned at the remarks. Tinubu tendered an apology, claiming that he was misinterpreted.
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