Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former SGF David Babachir Lawal, former Communications Minister Adebayo Shittu and ex-House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara, are among the top APC chieftains missing from the party’s Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) released late Friday.
The 422-man list, released by the PCC’s secretary, James Faleke, contained the names of presidential candidate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the party’s national chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, as deputy chairman 1 and 2.
There are, however, shocking omission of party stalwarts, many of whom have been at loggerheads or engaged in cold war with Tinubu over his preference for the contentious Muslim-Muslim ticket
The list has names of political heavyweights including APC governors, ministers, lawmakers, ambassadors as well as serving and past public office holders.
Other big names missing from the list include a former Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba.
Omission of Mr Shittu was surprising because he heads one of his biggest support groups — Asiwaju Tinubu-Shettima Coalition for Good Governance.
However, it was learned that while the camp of Osinbajo had distanced itself from Tinubu after his emergence as winner of the APC presidential ticket, the duo of Dogara and Babachir had been criticizing Tinubu for picking a fellow Muslim, Senator Kashim Shettima as running mate.
On Tuesday, Dogara had said the APC’s adoption of a Muslim-Muslim ticket was a fruitless political effort that was “doomed to end in spectacular failure.”
He revealed this while delivering his keynote address at a summit tagged ‘Meet The Church,’ organised by the Nigeria National Christian Coalition.
Mr Babachir vowed that the introduction of a same-faith ticket by the APC was a deliberate plan to further create divisions in the north.
On the other hand, the PCC contains the name of former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, who covertly accused Tinubu of bribing delegates for votes at the APc Convention.
Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who was indicted of alleged anti-party activities in the Osun governorship election, was surprisingly included in the list.
All PCC members were advised to pick their appointment letters on Monday, at the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council on Plot 781, Herbert Macaulay Way, Central Area Abuja.
