Speaker of the House of Representatives Alhaji Aminu Waziri will not seek the opposition All Progressives Congress’ (APC) presidential ticket but will, instead, seek the party’s governorship ticket for Sokoto State, Daily Trust authoritatively learnt in Abuja yesterday.
The decision brings to an end a big suspense in Nigerian politics with some newspapers reporting yesterday that Tambuwal secretly picked up an APC presidential nomination form on Monday. Tambuwal did not pick up the form and would not seek it, Daily Trust learnt.
Daily Trust also learnt that Tambuwal’s decision was made after several rounds of high level meetings of APC’s Northern caucus. The party’s elders including its governors, national officials and presidential candidates had met in Kaduna on October 18 and in Abuja, last week.
The meetings, Daily Trust learnt, discussed at length how to reduce the possibility of rancour after one of the aspirants might have won the party’s ticket. The leaders said such rancour could mar the party’s chances of success in next year’s elections and they discussed ways of pruning down the number of aspirants.
An authoritative source close to the Speaker told Daily Trust last night: “The Right Honourable Speaker was present at all those meetings and he fully agreed with the observations made. There was heavy pressure mounted on him from all parts of the country to seek APC’s presidential ticket. Those who were mounting the pressure pointed to opinion polls which found that he is the potential aspirant with the nationwide appeal to defeat President Jonathan in next year’s election. Pressure is also being mounted on him to go home to Sokoto and seek the governorship ticket. He considered all the issues and decided that he must help the process of reducing rancour in the presidential race which could affect the party’s chances of success. Since the party already has four declared presidential aspirants and efforts are being made by elders to prune down the number, the Speaker decided not to compound the problem. He will, instead, consider the call for him to seek the Sokoto governorship ticket.”
The source noted that age is on the speaker’s side so he is in a good position to make sacrifices. Tambuwal, the source said, is also ready to play any role that will enhance the party’s chances of success in the elections, given his broad appeal across the country.
Tambuwal is believed to have the strong backing of Governor Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko in the quest for Sokoto APC’s governorship ticket.
Days before he defected from PDP, Tambuwal attended an APC stakeholders’ meeting in Sokoto, saying he did so upon Wamakko’s invitation. At that meeting, the party’s governorship ticket was zoned to Sokoto South Senatorial District, where he comes from.
There are, however, several other APC governorship aspirants from the same zone. The party has more aspirants from outside that zone. One of them, Professor Muhammad Lawal Bashar recently rejected the zoning arrangements adopted at the caucus meeting and said it could spell disaster for the party.
In deciding to seek the Sokoto governorship, observers believe that Tambuwal may have chosen the path of least resistance given APC’s overwhelming dominance in Sokoto State. The party controls not only the state government but has two of the three senators, all the House of Representatives members, all the members of the State House of Assembly, all the local government chairmen and all the councillors.
Daily Trust also learnt that Tambuwal’s decision was made after several rounds of high level meetings of APC’s Northern caucus. The party’s elders including its governors, national officials and presidential candidates had met in Kaduna on October 18 and in Abuja, last week.
The meetings, Daily Trust learnt, discussed at length how to reduce the possibility of rancour after one of the aspirants might have won the party’s ticket. The leaders said such rancour could mar the party’s chances of success in next year’s elections and they discussed ways of pruning down the number of aspirants.
An authoritative source close to the Speaker told Daily Trust last night: “The Right Honourable Speaker was present at all those meetings and he fully agreed with the observations made. There was heavy pressure mounted on him from all parts of the country to seek APC’s presidential ticket. Those who were mounting the pressure pointed to opinion polls which found that he is the potential aspirant with the nationwide appeal to defeat President Jonathan in next year’s election. Pressure is also being mounted on him to go home to Sokoto and seek the governorship ticket. He considered all the issues and decided that he must help the process of reducing rancour in the presidential race which could affect the party’s chances of success. Since the party already has four declared presidential aspirants and efforts are being made by elders to prune down the number, the Speaker decided not to compound the problem. He will, instead, consider the call for him to seek the Sokoto governorship ticket.”
The source noted that age is on the speaker’s side so he is in a good position to make sacrifices. Tambuwal, the source said, is also ready to play any role that will enhance the party’s chances of success in the elections, given his broad appeal across the country.
Tambuwal is believed to have the strong backing of Governor Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko in the quest for Sokoto APC’s governorship ticket.
Days before he defected from PDP, Tambuwal attended an APC stakeholders’ meeting in Sokoto, saying he did so upon Wamakko’s invitation. At that meeting, the party’s governorship ticket was zoned to Sokoto South Senatorial District, where he comes from.
There are, however, several other APC governorship aspirants from the same zone. The party has more aspirants from outside that zone. One of them, Professor Muhammad Lawal Bashar recently rejected the zoning arrangements adopted at the caucus meeting and said it could spell disaster for the party.
In deciding to seek the Sokoto governorship, observers believe that Tambuwal may have chosen the path of least resistance given APC’s overwhelming dominance in Sokoto State. The party controls not only the state government but has two of the three senators, all the House of Representatives members, all the members of the State House of Assembly, all the local government chairmen and all the councillors.
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