Those who projected Jonathan, Lawan, Emefiele for Presidency working against Tinubu — APC

In what appears a move closer to revealing the identities of those alleged to be undermining the presidential aspiration of the All Progressives Congress APC Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a top official of the party has now listed those involved in the plot.

Governor of the Northwest state of Kaduna, Nasir El-Rufai had last week alleged that some elements in the Presidential Villa were working to sabotage Tinubu’s chances at the polls.

Affirming the position of his governor on Tuesday, National Vice Chairman, Northwest, of the APC, Salihu Moh. Lukman noted that the emergence of Asiwaju Tinubu as APC’s Presidential candidate is a product of internal party contests.

Lukman also formally disclosed how the APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu announced Senate President Ahmad Lawan as the consensus presidential candidate and struggled to get the buy-in of the party leadership.

He said “schemers” who failed to produce neither none of the trio of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Central Bank of Nigeria CBN governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele and Senate President, Ahmad Lawan as the consensus candidate of APC “have unleashed Mr Emefiele’s so-called cashless policy to damage the APC and the candidature of Asiwaju Tinubu”.

According to him, by the time of the March 28, 2022 APC National Convention to elect national working Committee members, Presidential Aspirants had emerged, many of whom already had their preferred candidates for the position of National Chairman.

“Some of the Presidential Aspirants were able to expand their lobbies to some of the influential people around the President and perhaps succeeded to convince President Buhari to nominate Sen. Abdullahi Adamu for the position of National Chairman. And shortly after the election of Sen. Abdullahi Adamu as the National Chairman of the APC, negotiations for the emergence of a so-called consensus presidential candidate was activated”, he said.

Lukman noted that the scheming around emergence of a so-called consensus candidate was ridiculously stretched beyond the APC to include people like former President Goodluck Jonathan and Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria.

“These were never members of the APC. But with the active collaboration of some influential people outside the APC such as Chief Nduka Ogbaigbena, publisher and owner of Thisday Newspaper and Arise Television, some sophisticated mobilization of so-called ‘hundred eminent businessmen, political, media and civil society leaders, including 14 current governors, 13 former governors as well as three former senate presidents’ commenced around April 2022.

“Gradually, this scheming shifted and was entrenched within APC. By May 2023, when the party began to sell its nomination forms to aspiring candidates, forms were purchased by some APC leaders for former President Goodluck Jonathan and Mr. Godwin Emefiele.

“Eventually, when these schemers couldn’t succeed in popularizing both former President Jonathan and Mr. Emefiele as possible contenders to emerge as consensus Presidential candidates for APC, the Senate President, Sen. Ahmad Lawan was recruited and promoted.

“It is on record that Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, on the eve of the Convention that elected Asiwaju Tinubu as the Presidential candidate of the party, announced to NWC members that Sen. Ahmad Lawan was the consensus presidential candidate of the party. Members of the NWC together with Progressive Governors rose against that move and again thanks to President Muhammadu Buhari, the contest for the Presidential candidate of APC was thrown open and Asiwaju won with a wide margin."

He said Tinubu’s personal quality given his track records both as a businessman, politician, and elected Governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007 and the fact that he has over the years proven himself as a fighter for democracy was a great asset to his emergence.


FI