From Fred Itua, Abuja
The All Progressives Congress (APC) aspirants have upped their game as part of moves to secure the ticket of the party ahead of the presidential primary. As at the last count, 28 aspirants had purchased the party’s presidential nomination forms, with some buying and submitting personally, while others got theirs through third parties.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, got theirs through groups but failed to submit before the deadline last week.
Daily Sun, however, learnt that amid the anxiety and horse-trading going on in the party among contestants and other concerned stakeholders, one of the aspirant from the South West may have recruited four pseudo aspirants from the South as ploy to counter his strong contenders.
The wild cards believed to have been recruited by the aspirant, who is also a former governor of a South West state, include a ranking senator from the South West, who recently joined the race; a candidate from a major oil-producing state from the South South; a former chairman of the ruling party from the South South and another former governor, who until recently, was seen as a strong supporter of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Multiple sources in the APC said the target was to weaken the chances of Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who are considered as serious threats by the foot soldiers of this aspirant.
One of the sources said in a matter of days, the style of the game would change.
“The game is getting more interesting. No one knows who President Muhammadu Buhari is supporting and that’s a problem. The late entrance of the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, into the race poses more danger to many aspirants. But there’s a major aspirant from the South West who is a former governor. His camp, about three weeks ago hurriedly met and decided to play a smart one. They want to galvanise southern support for him and make it look like he’s the candidate of the party presented by the region.
“The camp sees Amaechi and Osinbajo as the real threat to their candidate. And to be frank, these two people appear to be the only serious aspirants from the South, aside the former governor. Other aspirants from the South are waiting for Buhari to pick them as his successor. To checkmate Amaechi and Osinbajo, four people who were not part of the calculation hurriedly picked up their forms. These are relatively unknown aspirants with no national spread. If you check APC list, they are part of the 28 names you see.
“If their plan works out, two of these aspirants from the South South will step down and endorse their financier. In fact, one of them resigned as Minister last week. Once they step down, they’ll begin to advocate that the South South region should support the candidacy of the South West aspirant. That move will naturally rule out Amaechi’s chances.
“In the South West, the two wild cards will likely step down too. In connivance with some governors from the South West, they’ll begin to insist that the geopolitical zone must adopt a candidate as their choice. This is their game plan and some people are privy to this information too.”
The source said money would play a major role during the primary and that this aspirant has the financial war chest to battle his opponents.
A documents seen by Daily Sun, indicated that seven aspirants from the South West would face the presidential screening committee of the APC.
South West parades the highest number of aspirants, despite the growing opposition to plans by the geopolitical zone to produce President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor. Since 1999, the South West has produced a president and vice president, Olusegun Obasanjo who served for eight years and Osinbajo, respectively. Both hail from Ogun State. The South South has produced both vice president and president in Goodluck Jonathan who was elected in 2007 as running mate to President Umaru Yar’Adua and who took over power when his boss died in 2010. The North East produced a vice president between 1999-2007 in Atiku Abubakar. Only the South East and North Central have not produced a president or vice president since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999.