Governors divided over Tinubu’s 2023 presidential ambition

A fresh crisis is brewing in the ruling party All Progressives Congress (APC) over the ambition of former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari come 2023.

Tinubu who is yet to formally declare his interest in the presidential race has, however, been making consultations and visiting prominent Nigerians to seek their support.

According to Senator Rufai Hanga, pioneer national chairman of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and APC chieftain, who recently dumped the ruling party, said there is a split among the APC governors on the issue of the presidential flag bearer of the party.

He disclosed that while some governors in the party have settled for one of them as presidential candidate with a serving minister in President Buhari’s administration as run­ning mate, other governors are rooting for Tinubu, saying they should rally round him for all he has done for the party.

He said, “We have about three to four factions and it is next to impossible to bring them together. There are governors in the party who have carved their own niche somewhere and are not ready to go with other governors.

READ ALSO: How Tinubu and Osinbajo may slug it out for APC presidential ticket  if they both decide to contest

“In fact, just three days ago, some governors sat and I heard from very strong authority that they met and anointed one of them as presidential can­didate. They have chosen his running mate from among one of the serving ministers. They are willing to go it all hog and are determined that there is no going back.

“There are other governors who are not willing to hear all that. These governors are all out for Asiwaju Tinubu. These ones are saying that it is unfortunate Asiwaju badly despite all he has done for the party. They are tell­ing their fellow governors not to bite the finger that fed them. So, there is division among the APC governors right now on the issue of 2023”.

Hanga, who said the APC is technically non-existent, added that there is no way the party will survive an implosion espe­cially with the crises in almost 13 states owing to the fall-out of the congresses.

“There is a neutral group that has come out and say they have sacked Buni and they have a new national chairman. So, under this kind of confusion, how do you expect this party to survive at this material time? We are in December now.

The cracks among the APC governors was evident at the weekend when Governor KayodeI Fayemi of Ekiti and Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa State both addressed Ahmadu Haruna Zago (Danzago), who belongs to Ibrahim Shekarau faction as Kano APC state chairman.

Two factions of the party in the state had conducted parallel congresses on October 18 but the party endorsed the one conduct­ed by the loyalists of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State.

The Shekarau’s faction had elected Danzago as chairman while Ganduje’s camp elected Abdullahi Abbas.