Former Lagos State Governor Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has emerged the presidential flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 elections.
The APC’s national leader defeated Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Ahmad Lawan, and former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi to emerge winner of the primary election held at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
A total of 2,322 delegates from across the country participated in the election.
Mr Tinubu won by polling 1,271 votes, while Amaechi got 316, Osinbajo (235) and Lawan (152).
Chairman of the electoral management committee of the convention, Governor Atiku Bagudu, declared the result on Wednesday at the Eagle Square Abuja.
Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello got 47, David Umahi (38), Ben Ayade, (37), Ahmad Sani (4), Ogbonaya Onu (1) and Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba (1) votes.
However, Senator Rochas Okorocha, Tunde Bakare, Jack Rich, Ike Obasi got zero votes each.
Gale of withdrawals that swing the pendulum
The withdrawals of some contenders for the party’s ticket before the commencement of voting during the primary wet the ground for the former Lagos State governor’s triumph.
Godswill Akpabio, former minister of Niger Delta affairs set the stage for the endorsement of the national leader of the party by withdrawing from the race.
Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi; Dimeji Bankole, former speaker of the House of Representatives; Muhammad Badaru, Jigawa governor; former governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibinkule Amosun; Ajayi Boroffice, senator representing Ondo north; and the only female aspirant in the race, Uju Ohanenye, followed suit.
Coup to edge Tinubu, Osinbajo, others out of the race
21st CENTURY CHRONICLE reports that had the coup by the party’s national leadership headed by Senator Abdullahi Adamu succeeded, the aspiration of the Tinubu would have been still born.
Adamu stirred the hornet nest by announcing Lawan as the party’s consensus candidate for the 2023 election.
Adamu’s pronouncement which came days after Northern APC governors backed a power shift to the South for the sake of national interest, created a lot of tension in the polity, with aspirants in the race drawing battle lines.
However, the counter announcement by President Muhammadu Buhari that he has no anointed candidate calmed the fraying nerves and set the stage for the primary.
Amid the dust over the Lawan controversy, APC governors pruned down the number of aspirants to five in the move to pick a consensus candidate.
Those who made the list include Tinubu, Osinbanjo, Ameachi, Fayemi and David Umahi of Ebonyi State.
But the development was also resisted by other aspirants, who insisted that everyone must be given a level playing ground to compete for the presidential ticket.
