2023: APC governors split over Tinubu’s presidential ambition

Ahead of the 2023 presidential election, a fresh crisis is brewing in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over the ambition of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State, to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s next leader.

Even though Tinubu has yet to formally declare his interest in the presidential race, he has been making consultations and visiting prominent Nigerians to notify them and seek their support.

Elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, whom Tinubu recently visited in Abuja, said that the APC national leader informed him of his presidential ambition and asked for his support.

Speaking exclusively with Daily Independent in Abuja, 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 flagbearer of the party.

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

He said: “We have about three to four factions and it is next to an impossibility 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.

“In fact, just three days ago, some governors sat and I heard it 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 colleague governors not to bite the finger that fed them. So, there is division among the APC governors right no won 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.