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From Fred Itua, Abuja
Ahead of next month’s presidential primaries of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), there appears to be a widening crack in the rank and file of the Senate caucus of the party.
The party, which controls about 70 per cent of the membership of the upper legislative chamber, has also lost control in providing the needed leadership for the caucus.
The crack in the caucus, Saturday Sun gathered, nosedived a fortnight ago, when the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo and Minister of Transport Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, officially joined the race to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.
Prior to the declaration of the two aspirants, APC Senate caucus was relatively neutral, beside a handful of members, predominantly from the North, who had been campaigning for Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
However, the caucus became factionalised, when the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan and his Deputy, Ovie Omo-Agege, opted for different camps.
While some sources have reliably claimed that Lawan has since ditched Tinubu to pitch tent with Osinbajo, Omo-Agege, on the other hand, is rooting for Tinubu, who is believed to have played a prominent role in his emergence as Deputy President of the Senate.
Former Leader of the Senate, Mohammed Ali Ndume, is aligning with Amaechi and has since been appointed as the director-general of the campaign organisation.
Interestingly, no senator from the South West has openly campaigned for either Tinubu or Osinbajo since the duo declared their intentions.
Similarly, no senator from the South South or South East, has openly campaigned for Amaechi either. His acclaimed ally, Omo-Agege, is not part of his campaign train.
In the North West, Senator Kabiru Gaya is leading the campaign for Osinbajo in the Red Chamber, while former governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima is spearheading the movement for Tinubu in the North East.
So far, beside Ndume, no other known senator is openly supporting Amaechi from the North, despite his purported popularity in the region.
A competent source said Lawan, who may not get re-elected as President of the Senate in 2023, is believed to be gunning for the Vice President’s slot if Osinbajo gets the party’s ticket.
The source said Lawan is mobilising APC senators to join the Osinbajo train, ahead of the primaries. The source said many senators have told him they’ll remain neutral until a substantive candidate emerges next month.
Meanwhile, Senator Gaya, who is the chairman of The Progressive Project (TPP) – a pro-Osinbajo Presidential Campaign Organisation, in a chat with newsmen, openly declared that a youth group has expressed readiness to procure APC expression of interest and nomination forms for Osinbajo, to pursue his presidential ambition.
Gaya said the gesture was in recognition and a show of the depth of acceptability of Osinbajo among Nigerians, especially the youth.
Ndume, on the other hand, described the Amaechi’s ambition as his personal project.
“I am one of those who had asked Amaechi to run. I started it. That is my project. I was one of those who asked Amaechi to run, because I feel at this critical time we need a Nigerian to run, not somebody who will run based on where he comes from or region; not somebody who is not experienced enough; and not somebody who does not have the pedigree, energy and intellect to run.
“In the APC, I feel the best candidate we can present is Amaechi. I don’t want to use the word that he is better than those who you listed. The best doesn’t mean others are not good enough. When you have very good people, then you pick the best. He is the best,” he said.
Similarly, Shettima, while marketing his candidate, Tinubu, said: “Asiwaju’s choices and endorsements of northerners as presidential candidates while others were masterminding ethno-regional solidarity and fueling socio-cultural affinities readily affirm his pan-Nigerian profile.”
