Presidential aspirants on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the South-West will today (Saturday) hold a final meeting in Abuja to decide on how the zone will produce the party’s presidential candidate.
The Star recalls that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo recently said consultations were ongoing to ensure the South-West produce the presidential candidate of the ruling party ahead of the 2023 general election.
Osinbajo, while addressing APC delegates in Osun State at Government House, Osogbo, the state capital in May, said he has no problem with consensus arrangement ahead of the party’s primaries to ensure the South-West produce the APC presidential flag bearer.
It would be further recalled that the former interim national chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande, had on May 6 said the APC presidential aspirants from South-West, governors and other leaders have united ahead of the 2023 general election.
Akande, while addressing newsmen at the end of a meeting with presidential aspirants from the zone in Lagos, urged party stalwarts and aspirants “to talk to themselves and the public with absolute decorum”.
According to the former governor of Osun State, the South-West APC leaders are united and will work to ensure that the 2023 presidency comes to the zone.
The seven presidential aspirants from the South-West are Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; APC national leader, Bola Tinubu; Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi; former Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun; Deputy Majority Leader of the Senate, Ajayi Boroffice; former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole; and Pastor Tunde Bakare.
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Others expected at the meeting scheduled to hold at the Abuja home of a former governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, are Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Gboyega Oyetola (Osun) and Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo).
Some ministers of South-West extraction are also expected to attend the meeting.
One of the aspirants, who declined to be named, said: “We will all be meeting at Chief Osoba’s home by 8pm in Abuja. Everyone is expected to be present. We will all sit together and discuss the need to ensure that the South-West gets the ticket.
“However, all of us will be asked to be truthful with one another and see who among us has the best chance of winning the primary.
“Then if anyone is willing to step down to boost the chances of the South-West, this will be encouraged,” PUNCH quoted the aspirant as saying.
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