General Muhammadu Buhari
According to the investigation conducted by Vanguard, the issue was actively discussed at the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held October 17.
Another key opposition candidate who declared his interest on the platform of the APC is former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was also present at the meeting. It was provided by the source however that the party leader and ex Lagos State governor Bola Tinubu openly declared his support for Buhari due to the popularity of the former military Head of the State.
Tinubu, who was said to have expressed his excitement over Buhari’s 12 million votes in 2011, decided to bankroll Buhari’s campaign to win the votes of the majority in 2015.
Not only did Tinubu declare support for the ex military head, but also mentioned that most national leaders of the party loyal to him do not welcome the idea of primary election to choose their presidential candidate.
The source was quoted saying
“Tinubu said it openly that day that he would support Buhari. He told everyone who was present.”
Thus it was added that APC might refuse to conduct primaries because Atiku has the structure to win delegate election.
Atiku Abubakar
The further plan of the party is to hold a mini-convention next week to amend some portions of its constitution to have the ability not to conduct the primaries.
Meanwhile after the NEC meeting APC’s public secretary Lai Mohammed explained the purpose of the scheduled mini convention as follows:
“Principally, we proposed certain amendments to the constitution of the party that will allow the party to function much more efficiently and to that extent we will hold what I call an extraordinary convention of the party on the 29th of this month in Abuja to submit the proposals for the amendment to the national convention of the party.”
Regarding the potential changes in primary elections, he said that it was important to amend the constitution because “the Electoral Act as amended says that one can conduct a primary but if you are going to, then one must be explicit on how you are going to conduct it”.
The move might reportedly limit the chances of other aspirants, including Rochas Okorocha, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and Sam Nda-Isaiah. It was learnt however, based on the information given by another source, that some aspirants might drop ambition as Tinubu demonstrated support for Buhari.
It would be recalled that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan as its sole candidate for the 2015 presidential elections, with the party primaries scheduled for December 6.
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