APC Governors Threaten Tinubu Over Campaign Council

A major crisis has broken out in the All Progressives Congress, APC over the constitution of the party’s presidential Campaign Council with some governors vowing to sabotage the presidential campaign of their party and its candidate, Bola Tinubu, in their respective states.

A report by Premium Times quotes sources linked to a number of the governors as fuming over the fact that Tinubu discarded their nominations and put in those outside their political circle as members of the council.

In the opinion of several of the governors, the development is indicative of the fact that Tinubu does not trust them (governors). Many of them are thus vowing to retialate by sabotaging the campaign in their respective states.

GWG reports that James Faleke, an alter ego of Tinubu’s who also serves as the secretary of the APC Presidential Campaign Council had on Saturday released the list with Yemi Osinbajo absent but a PDP senator, Chimaroke Nnamani present.

It has since been explained that the exclusion of Osinbajo was on the instruction of President Muhammadu Buhari. However, there are insinuations that Osinbajo opted to be left out of the council on account of the Muslim-Muslim slant of the ticket.

According to Premium Times, the governors were stunned to see that Tinubu and the party ignored their nominations and replaced them with others from their respective states without consulting them despite the earlier request from them to nominate five persons each.

Among those said to have been especially peeved was Governor Ben Ayade who according to the report vowed not to participate in campaigning for the presidential candidate “since the party leaders have proven to know more than him in his state.”

The governor had submitted names of individuals he believed would effectively mobilise voters for the presidential candidate in Cross River but he was surprised that none of the persons he nominated were named by the party. Mr Ayade had contested to be the presidential candidate of the party and lost.

“The governor of Kwara, Abdulrahman Abdulrazak, is complaining that he submitted five names but he had seen only one appearance on the list,” said an insider who asked not to be named because he is not permitted to speak to journalists on this matter. “The governor said Kwara has seven persons on the list and all of them are from the same local government.”

Governor Rotimi Akeredelu of Ondo State, who appeared on the list as the South-west campaign coordinator, also complained to the party’s leadership that the names of individuals he nominated were ignored. Mr Akeredolu had been seen rooting for Mr Tinubu before and after he emerged the presidential candidate of the party.

“If the list is authentic, it means that the party and the candidate are not serious about the campaign,” the insider told PREMIUM TIMES. “We believe that at the state, electoral influence resides with the governors and If the governors nominated people to the campaign council and they were ignored, it means there is danger.”

In the northern region, some APC governors are fuming that Mr Tinubu failed to carry them along in the campaign journey so far, those familiar with the matter told PREMIUM TIMES. The fear of the governors is that “the APC presidential candidate does not trust anyone of them apart from those around him.”

Source: Premium Times

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