How Tinubu defied odds to clinch APC ticket

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State, defied all odds to clinch the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday ahead of the 2023 general election.

Abubakar Atiku-Bagudu, governor of Kebbi State and chairman of the APC special convention, declared Tinubu winner of the party’s presidential primary election held at the Eagle Square, Abuja.

The former Lagos State governor got 1,271 votes to defeat his closest rival, Rotimi Amaechi, former minister of transportation, who scored 316 votes. Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo came third with 235 votes, followed by Ahmad Lawan, president of the Senate, who got 152 votes.

Yahaya Bello polled 47 votes; David Umahi, 38; Ben Ayade, 37; Ahmed Yerima, 4; Ogbonnaya Onu, 1; Emeka Nwajiuba, 1, while Rochas Okorocha, Tunde Bakare, Tein Jack-Rich and Ikeobasi Mokelu got zero.

Tinubu did not have a smooth ride in his quest to win the ticket to pursue what he had described as a ‘life-long ambition’ to be the president of Nigeria.

First was the number of aspirants (23) who showed interest in the ticket, including his political allies from the South-West: Osinbajo, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State; Ajayi Boroffice, deputy Senate leader; Ibikunle Amosun, a former governor of Ogun State; and Dimeji Bankole, former speaker of the House of Representatives.

There were permutations that the removal of Adams Oshiomhole as APC national chairman in 2020 was also a plot to weaken Tinubu’s control of the party’s national structure.

There were conspiracy theories being propounded by those in the corridors of power in Aso Villa that President Muhammadu Buhari had an anointed candidate for the 2023 presidency and certainly not Tinubu.

At some point, it was touted that Osinbajo was the anointed candidate. Analysts also said that Buhari made matters worse by keeping silent or being indecisive.

They strongly believed that the President “threw his vice under the bus.”

The President had during an interview on Channels Television last year revealed that he actually had an anointed successor but he would not unveil the person for the fear that such an individual could be “eliminated.”

Buhari had last week urged governors of the ruling party and other stakeholders to allow him choose his successor.

“In keeping with the established internal policies of the party and as we approach the convention in a few days, therefore, I wish to solicit the reciprocity and support of the governors and other stakeholders in picking my successor, who would fly the flag of our party for election into the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2023,” he said.

On the heels of that was the choice of John Odigie-Oyegun, former chairman of the APC, who is considered as the arch-political enemy of Tinubu, as head of the party’s presidential screening committee.

The screening committee, in its report, said only 13 aspirants were cleared out of the 23, which set off speculations that Odigie-Oyegun might have taken his pound of flesh by disqualifying Tinubu.

In between these were the permutations about the issue of a consensus candidate aimed at edging out Tinubu. There were also speculations that the governors wanted one of them to emerge as Buhari’s successor.

Before then, Atiku Abubakar, a former vice-president, had emerged the presidential flag-bearer of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the earlier clamour for power shift to the South had also started to tilt towards the North.

Reprieve first came the way of Tinubu when APC governors and leaders from the North last weekend conceded the contest to the South and one of the aspirants, Muhammed Abubakar-Badaru, withdrew from the race, while Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, Lawan, and Sani Yerima, former governor of Zamfara State, from the North, remained in the race.

The APC governors and leaders made their resolution known in a statement after their meeting last Saturday.

They said: “After careful deliberation, we wish to state our firm conviction that after eight years in office of President Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the APC for the 2023 elections should be one of our teeming members from the southern states of Nigeria.

It is a question of honour for the APC, an obligation that is not in any way affected by the decisions taken by another political party. We affirm that upholding this principle is in the interest of building a stronger, more united and more progressive country.

“We therefore, wish to strongly recommend to President Muhammadu Buhari that the search for a successor as the APC’s presidential candidate be limited to our compatriots from the southern states. We appeal to all aspirants from the northern states to withdraw in the national interest and allow only the aspirants from the south to proceed to the primaries.”

After the resolution, Buhari had ordered that a consensus should be reached among the southern aspirants, but all their meetings in that regard were deadlocked.

The development forced the president to summon a national caucus meeting of APC on Sunday but no resolution was also reached.

While negotiations were ongoing, Abdullahi Adamu, APC national chairman, dropped a bombshell that Lawan was the consensus candidate but that arrangement did not work eventually.

Not deterred, Tinubu continued with horse-trading, seeking the intervention of stakeholders, including traditional rulers, especially from the South-West.

One of his close allies told BusinessDay that Tinubu had reached out to key powerbrokers and traditional rulers, mostly from the Yoruba nation, to let aspirants from the area step down for him.

The ally said: “Asiwaju has reached out to our leaders, including Obas of the Yoruba kingdom who were making sure that he should be allowed to be a sole contender for the APC presidential ticket from the South-West.”

A few days to the convention, Tinubu’s utterances in Abeokuta, Ogun State, where he indicated he single-handedly made Buhari president, and his insistence that it was his turn to be the next president attracted nationwide condemnation.

The reaction of some leaders in the APC indicated that Tinubu’s quest for the presidency had been blunted by his umbrage.

But critical stakeholders in the party see the former Lagos State governor as the one with the capacity to compete with Atiku at the general election.

Some of the tricks that worked for the APC leader were his old alliance with most of the governors, party leaders, political mentors as well as support from his South-West zone

Realising that state governors are in charge of party machinery in states ruled by the APC, while in states under the opposition, chieftains such as former governors, ministers and party flag-bearers are the ones calling the shots, Tinubu got many of these party chieftains to back his presidential ambition.

But beyond the moves to convince the delegates, old alliances and relationships played significant roles in determining where the party leaders pitched their tents.

Read also: Seven quotes from Bola Tinubu’s acceptance speech

Before the convention, Tinubu was said to have secured the support of most of the states, with at least 16 states assuring him of block votes.

Many of the states that are believed to have voted for him were among those with the highest number of party delegates. They are Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Borno, Sokoto, Lagos, Osun, Niger, Adamawa, Bauchi, Ondo, Kwara, Benue, Edo, Delta and Zamfara.

Of the 13 northern governors that said power should return to the South, at least 11 are said to have rooted for him. Kano’s Abdullahi Ganduje, Katsina’s Aminu Bello Masari, Kaduna’s Nasiru El-Rufai and Niger’s Abubakar Sani Bello had declared public support for Tinubu.

Kashim Shettima, former Borno governor, in an interview on Channels Television, said last week that only Tinubu can win the presidency for APC in 2023.

The intervention by southern political leaders and traditional rulers from the South-West worked as aspirants from the zone, except Osinbajo, stepped down for Tinubu at the convention, in addition to those from other parts of the country.

Godswill Akpabio, former minister of Niger Delta Affairs; Amosun; Fayemi; and Bankole stepped down for the former Lagos governor.

Others were Mohammed Abubakar-Badaru, governor of Jigawa State; Boroffice; and Uju Kennedy, the only female aspirant in the race.

With this development, winning the ticket was a cake walk for the APC national leader.

Tinubu, in his acceptance speech, did not pretend that those who withdrew for him made his victory possible.

He said: “I must say a special word of thanks to the seven aspirants [Alhaji Badaru Abubakar; Sen.; Ibikunle Amosun; Sen. Ajayi Boroffice; Rt. Hon. Dimeji Bankole; Sen. Godswill Akpabio; Dr. Kayode Fayemi; and Barr. (Mrs.) Uju Kennedy] who chose to step down their personal ambitions for the good of the party and the unity of our purpose.”

For those who contested with him to the ballot, he said: “The Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan, I would have been a little upset because you competed with me but that is over now since you can easily leak your wounds. It doesn’t take away from thanking you for the past cooperation and cool-headedness to build our country.”