Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State, has revealed why Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was chosen over former Minister of Transportation Chibuike Amaechi and Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo by the North-West and North-East national delegates for the All Progressives Congress, APC presidential primaries.
El-Rufai claims that North-West governors met and decided that Tinubu, the APC’s national leader, is the most sellable of the five Southern aspirants presented to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Again, President Buhari refused to choose one of the five candidates, insisting that the governors should let the delegates decide. According to El-Rufai,
Former Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu won the APC presidential primary with 1,271 votes, defeating his closest rival, Amaechi, who received 316 votes, and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who received 235 votes.
And El-Rufai said it was so because the governors from the North-West resolved that Tinubu was the best bet and the North East also abided.
“I can’t say all of us stuck with Bola Tinubu. Not all of us were stuck with Bola Tinubu. In many of our states, the delegates’ votes were divided. And I went to address the Kaduna delegates for the last time before the voting,
“I don’t know how the delegates voted but the feedback I got after the voting is that most of them voted Asiwaju, some voted for Amaechi and some voted for Vice president, Osinbajo.
“But overall you can see that overwhelming, Asiwaju Tinubu won. I cannot say all the governors did that. We the Northwest governors met and we decided that our best bet, is the person we can most easily sell in our region, and that is Asiwaju Tinubu and this is why you see the pattern of the voting that way and where the North-West goes, the North East follows.”