by Sodiq Yusuff
Former governor of Lagos State,
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has dropped his interest in the vice-presidential
slot of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 presidential election,
TheCable understands. Tinubu is making that “personal sacrifice” in the
interest of opposition politics in Nigeria, one of his associates said at the
weekend.
He said: “Tinubu has seen that the political
currents in Nigeria are not in favour of a Muslim-Muslim ticket and there is
every chance that the presidential candidate of the APC will be a northern
Muslim.
“Picking an all-Muslim ticket will
only play into the hands of PDP which has been trying to portray APC as an
Islamic party. Whoever emerges as the running mate will have Tinubu’s blessing.
“No matter what, Tinubu has succeeded in negotiating a very good deal for the
south-west in the APC.
The strongest positions in the national
working committee of the party have been zoned away from the south-west, which
leaves the zone in a good position to take the vice-presidential slot.
“Tinubu has laboured very hard to
build a political base in the south-west and he deserves credit for this. Those
who think they can just ride on his back to win votes need to show him a bit of
respect.”
TheCable was also informed that some top APC
politicians in the south-west were already unhappy with Tinubu because of the
VP issue, a situation that has generated tension in the party. Governor Kayode
Fayemi of Ekiti State and two former governors ─ Chief Niyi Adebayo (Ekiti) and
Chief Segun Osoba (Ogun) ─ are all believed to be eyeing the VP slot since they
are all Christians.
All APC governors in the south-west
are Muslims, apart from Fayemi. APC is most likely to zone its presidential
ticket to the north, and a Muslim candidate is expected to be picked at the
party’s convention in November. Outside of the north, the south-west is the
biggest terrain for the APC where it currently controls five of the six states.
The Cable
www.thecable.ng as the source 
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