The All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries are underway and the governors have further trimmed down their lists, leaving 3 names on the list of presidential aspirants to be considered for consensus.
The APC primaries kicked off unofficially yesterday, June 6th, in Abuja, in spite of the recent Ondo massacre. The event has entered its second day at Eagles Square, Abuja, and many aspirants have already been dropped off by the party.
The party sold 28 forms to 28 different aspirants at the rate of N100 million each and 23 of these aspirants were screened last week. Of the 23, 13 of them were said to have passed the screening exercise, according to John Oyegun, Chairman of the party’s presidential screening committee.
Three aspirants including the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige; Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele; and the Minister of Petroleum for State, Timipreye Sylva; did not submit their forms, while former President, Goodluck Jonathan and Akinwumi Adesina did not show up for screening.
The APC primaries is on to nominate a sole presidential aspirant from the party and there are about 2,340 delegates who will cast their votes for the aspirants. The primaries is set to run until Wednesday.
According to the directive given by President Muhammadu Buhari, the governors in the early hours of Tuesday had proposed five names to be considered for consensus. These included Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Rotimi Amaechi; Governor Kayode Fayemi and Governor Dave Umahi.
However, the names were further pruned, leaving three names for consideration: Tinubu, Osibanjo, and Amaechi, making up the proposed list.
While the list is not a binding decision, it is a suggestion to Buhari who has requested them to assist in pruning down the 23 aspirants for consensus.
Tensions remain high as we await the final winner of the APC Presidential ticket.