Buhari’s Running Mate: Tinubu, Others In Marathon Meeting To Beat INEC Deadline

Chieftains of the All Progressives Congress, APC, from the Southwest geopolitical zone were on Sunday night engaged in a marathon meeting to decide who eventual becomes the party's vice presidential candidate.

At the meeting purportedly held at an undisclosed location in Ikoyi, decided by former Lagos State Governor and a national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu, were the immediate past National Chairman of the party, Bisi Akande, the immediate past Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman of the National Convention Committee of the party, Kayode Fayemi, and state governors of the party from the zone.

The governors present  include Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, and other chieftains of the party in the South West Zone.
The meeting started around 8:30 p.m. and no definite decision has been made public as at the time of filing this report.
The meeting became necessary following reports that APC has asked the South West caucus of the party to suggest the running mate to former military ruler, Muhammadu Buhari, who on Thursday emerged the presidential flagbearer of the party for the 2015 polls.

There was speculation on Friday that the Governor of Rivers state, Rotimi Amaechi, had been chosen as Mr. Buhari’s running mate. However, one senior official of the party denied the plan.

BlackBox Nigeria gathered that since the emerges of Buhari, high powered meeting has been going on within the party, while the Sunday meeting was essentially to finalize decisions on the possible vice presidential candidates to be presented to the party leadership today in Abuja.
Political parties participating in the 2015 elections have up to December 18 to submit names of their candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The choice of South West to produce the Vice Presidential candidates, party insiders say, is strategic because GMB is expected to get substantial votes from the northern states and will need to get the votes from the South West to stand any chance of upstaging incumbent President Jonathan.
Among the major contenders to the vice presidential ticket from the South West are Yemi Osibanjo, a professor of Law, who was the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos state under former Governor Tinubu. Former Governor of Ekiti and Chairman of the Planning Committee that that produced Buhari, Kayode Fayemi.

BBN would keep readers posted has events unfolds.