By Josephine Isaac
hortlisted Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and 4 others from Southern Nigeria ad candidates to be considered by President Muhammadu Buhari for the party’s prized 2023 presidential ticket. Sources reveal that the other candidates shortlisted include; Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, Dr Kayode Fayemi, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. It was gathered that the critical stakeholders of the party, early Tuesday morning, selected 5 aspirants out of which one will be picked to be the party’s flagbearer.
Governors of the party on Monday held meetings along regional lines (North and South) and also met separately with the party’s national chairman, Abdullahi Adamu and members of the NWC before this decision was reached. The party was engulfed in a major crisis on Monday after the Governors unanimously rejected the announcement of Senate President, Ahmed Lawan as the anointed candidate of the party by the chairman, Adamu. Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, in a terse statement shortly after, hammered Adamu warning that he should not engage in a ‘Dangerous Frolic’ adding that ‘power must shift to the south’. The announcement was also condemned by other members of the NWC and several other stakeholders. President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday night, also denied the position of the Party chairman adding that he had no ‘annointed’ candidate. Furthermore, Vice President Osinbajo faced subtle pressure to step down for his estranged political godfather, Asiwaju Tinubu. Some aspirants are still expected to withdraw from the race pending the outcome of negotiations on Tuesday.