HeadlineTHE INSIDE STORY: How Tinubu Emerged as APC Presidential Candidate

THE INSIDE STORY: How Tinubu Emerged as APC Presidential Candidate

…Why Buhari Dumped Ahmad Lawan

…How APC Governors, Aisha Buhari Defeated Aso Rock Cabal

June 12, (THEWILL) – A few days to the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) special presidential convention held at the Eagles Square in Abuja, the party’s 23 presidential aspirants were so much in doubt about their fate that they could have collapsed under the weight of tension.

Glo

Those who had banked on President Muhammadu Buhari’s endorsement saw nothing coming. Consensus candidacy trended briefly, but it was not sure-footed because raw power was on display.

The only aspirant that gave an inkling to the deadly power game going on within the party was Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who, unable to contain the building tension let out steam during his meeting with delegates in Abeokuta, Ogun State. Tinubu exploded with anger against President Buhari for refusing to honour a gentleman’s agreement to hand over power to him.

According to THEWILL investigation, the clash of interest, devious stratagems, ruthless tactics and feints with a heavy dose of feral cunning were on display by different groups within the party. All that eventually worked in Tinubu’s favour.

POWER PLAYERS

THEWILL learnt that three main power players within the APC tried to outwit each other before the convention. They were members of the cabal within the presidency with Buhari’s nephew, Mamman Daura; Sarki Abba, the Senior Special Assistant Domestic, Household Matters and Social Events and Sabiu Yusuf alias Tunde, Sarki Abba as arrowheads.

The 13 Northern Governors led by the Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State; Nasir el- Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State and his Kebbi counterpart and Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum, Atiku Bagudu, were the second power brokers, while the third power broker was First Lady Aisha Buhari.

The cabal in the presidency, according to our sources, had been covertly working on a plan to retain the presidency in the north since President Buhari’s reelection in 2019. This plan was however without the President’s knowledge at the early stages until a few days to the primary when they convinced him to drop his decision to choose a candidate from the South/South region as his preferred successor.

Nonetheless, members of the cabal simply upped their game plan when former Vice President Atiku Abubakar emerged as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). With the active support of APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, who had publicly announced the party’s plan to choose a northerner as candidate in reaction to Atiku’s emergence, the cabal eventually picked the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, leaving two other aspirants from the North: Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa State and Senator Ahmed Yerima, one- time governor of Zamfara State. But they ignored the northern governors in their plan.

THEWILL gathered that rather than see one of their own, Governor Bagudu, picked as the consensus candidate, the announcement of Lawan infuriated the northern governors, who immediately came together and started throwing their weight around. But every move they made in a civil manner was met with hostility by the cabal.

Initially, the cabal was said to have brooked no interference from the state governors and allegedly blocked el-Rufai from seeing Buhari to discuss his choice of succession despite multiple attempts. However, he finally had a meeting with the President alongside APC northern governors as the governors reinforced their demand for a power shift to the South. The tension in the party and uproar against fielding a candidate from the north forced the president to issue a statement denying he had chosen Lawan or indeed anyone as his preferred candidate.

Calling for peace within the party, Buhari asked the governors to submit a list of five aspirants from the South from where he assured them he would anoint one as the party’s consensus candidate. The aspirants that made the list were Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Rotimi Amaechi, Kayode Fayemi and Dave Umahi.

With barely 24 hours to the commencement of the primary and the president still dilly dallying and cabal insisting on installing Lawan, the APC governors from the north except Yahaya Bello of the Kogi State, took the initiative and united with their colleagues from the South without Hope Uzodinma of Imo State to stall Lawan’s candidacy.

The governors after extensive consultations amongst their ranks made a deal with Tinubu and threw their weight behind his candidacy.

ENTER AISHA BUHARI

Sensing a backlash against her husband following his support for Lawan, First Lady, Aisha, was said to have stepped into the matter, this time in favour of Tinubu, whom her investigation had shown was heads above other aspirants dumping her initial favourite, Rotimi Amaechi. She was said to have reminded her husband of the gentlemen’s agreement between him and Tinubu, arguing that as a man of integrity, her husband was morally bound to honour the agreement. She was the one that pressured the president to issue the statement denying he had endorsed Lawan.

By the time the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, issued the statement in that light, the members of the cabal were said to have been at their wits end, a development that opened the way for Mrs Buhari to press on with her support for Tinubu.

As delegates were being accredited and marching into the Eagles Square venue of the event, THEWILL gathered she was calling key stakeholders including Governor Uzodinma of Imo State, who was coordinating the South for Senator Lawan, to collapse the Lawan group for Tinubu. Uzodinma was also Chairman, Election Planning Committee, APC Convention.

When voting started, it was clear that the governors and Mrs Buhari had succeeded in their plan to install Tinubu as the party’s flagbearer after at least five aspirants dropped out of the race and endorsed his candidacy.

WHY LAWAN, CABAL LOST

Ahmad Lawan and the cabal had a single one plan, which was to get the National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu to announce Lawan as the president’s preferred consensus candidate to members of the national working committee and force key party stakeholders to accept it. But that was not the case as the committee openly revolted against the development, forcing the cabal and the president to beat a retreat.

Though Lawan and the cabal wanted to win badly at the Eagles Square venue of the primary, they did not play a solid ground game and did not deploy enough money to woo delegates despite their intimidating warchest. They lost out even before the delegates started voting. At the end of voting, they managed to muster only 152 votes to come fourth.

The full result after voting as declared at the primary.

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu – 1, 271

Rotimi Amaechi – 316

Yemi Osinbajo – 235

Ahmad Lawal – 152

Yahaya Bello – 47

David Umuahi – 38

Ahmad Sani Yerima – 4

Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba – 1

Ogbonnaya Onu – 1

Pastor Tunde Bakare – 0

Rochas Okorocha – 0

Ikeobasi Mokelu – 0.

About the Author

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Amos Esele is the Deputy Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.

Amos Esele, THEWILLhttps://thewillnews.com
Amos Esele is the Deputy Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.

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