APC ticket: Why the odds may favour Tinubu as Buhari purportedly rules out consensus candidate

The camp of former Lagos Governor and presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, may finally have something to cheer about ahead of the presidential primary of the ruling party.

This is because President Muhammadu Buhari has ruled out consensus option to select the 2023 presidential flag bearer of the party.

According to the Daily Trust, the President’s preference to conduct the party’s primary election is indirect primaries.

Prior to this report, those in the camp of Tinubu have kicked against using consensus to pick the party’s presidential candidate. Their worry is that Tinubu may be schemed out if the consensus approach is adopted.

Why the odds may favour Tinubu

President Muhammadu Buhari has not come out to publicly endorse any of the presidential aspirants yet. According to reports, the President has told every aspirants to go out and woo delegates ahead of the presidential primaries.

Apart from Tinubu, Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, the minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and others are some of the aspirants in contention for the APC ticket.

Though there are claims the president may not be favourably disposed to Tinubu’s ambition, but as long as he continues to maintain a neutral position to who will succeed him, then the odds may be in favour of Tinubu.

The indirect primary mode requires the use of the delegates system at the presidential primary. The system is believed to be influenced by state Governors who dictate the composition of the delegates list in their respective states.

Tinubu is believed to have made inroads into some key APC controlled states in the North to get the backing of their Governors. These states are states that are usually allocated with high delegates for the party’s primary.

Apart from that, the former Lagos Governor has also infiltrated the ranks of some serving and former lawmakers, who are statutory delegates at the primary.

With this, Tinubu may easily come out top against any aspirants at the presidential primary.