Photo: Twitter/ Bola Ahmed Tinubu
Former governor of Lagos State Bola Ahmed Tinubu is on course to win the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress in the 2023 general election.
As reported by The Guardian, while official vote counts are still ongoing at the time of filing this report, Tinubu has garnered more than 60% of the total votes cast by APC delegates.
Delegates from Akwa Ibom state did not vote because of a court order on two factions of the APC in the state.
According to the official figures announced by vote collation officer Osagie Ize-Iyamu, former transportation minister Rotimi Amaechi came second to Tinubu with Amaechi was the closest to Tinubu with 316 votes.
Osinbajo came third with 235 votes while Lawan polled 152 votes.
Before the election commenced, Tinubu was endorsed by Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, former governors of Ogun; Ibikunle Amosun, Akwa Ibom; Godswill Akpabio, Senator Ajayi Boroffice, former House of Representatives Speaker Dimeji Bankole and the only female aspirant Uju Kennedy Ohanenye.
In its own version of the story, The punch reported that Tinubu obtained over 1,000 votes to defeat his closest rivals, ex-minister Rotimi Amaechi and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
While Amaechi polled 316 votes, Osinbajo scored 235 votes.
He contested against thirteen other aspirants – Mr Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Mr Ahmed Rufai, Senator Rochas Okorocha, Mr Jack Rich, Governor Ben Ayade, Governor David Umahi, Senator Ahmed Yarima, Dr Ahmed Lawan, Osinbajo, Amaechi, Governor Yahaya Bello and Mr Ogbonnaya Onu.
Nine aspirants had earlier stepped down, eight of whom asked their supporters to vote for Tinubu, while one asked his supporters to vote for Osinbajo.
Those who stepped down before voting began are Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa, Robert Boroffice, Ken Nnamani, Ibikunle Amosun, Dimeji Bankole, Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi and Godswill Akpabio.
They asked their supporters to vote for Tinubu, just as the only female aspirant, Mrs Uju Ken-Ohanenye, followed suit.
Pastor Felix Nicholas, the United States of America-based aspirant also stepped down and asked his supporters to vote for Osinbajo.
A candidate, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, immediate past Minister of State for Education, was conspicuously absent at the convention.
Selected members of the APC had gathered to choose the party’s candidate for next year’s election to replace President Muhammadu Buhari.
Tinubu will face 75-year-old Atiku Abubakar of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party among others in the February 25 presidential ballot.
Buhari, who is stepping down after the two terms he is allowed in the constitution, had spent days leading up to the convention in negotiations with the APC’s leaders seeking unity over a party candidate.
“The fate of the party depends on what we do here,” APC party chairman Abdullahi Adamu said, echoing Buhari’s call for unity in the ranks.
“We cannot go into the general election next year without putting our house together.”
On its own, the Daily Post reported that about 2,322 delegates from across the country had stormed Eagles Square, Abuja, to elect the flagbearer of the party ahead of the 2023 general elections.
While Tinubu, who doubles as the National Leader of the party, got 1,299 votes, his major opponents, Amaechi and Osinbajo secured 316 and 235 votes respectively.
The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan got 152 votes while the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, scored 47 votes.
Among all the aspirants who procured the N100 million nomination forms, 23 were successfully screened to participate in the primary.
With the current development, Tinubu will face the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and other party candidates to battle for the top political office in the forthcoming 2023 elections.
The paper gave the details of the result as follows: Bola Tinubu – 1299; Rotimi Amaechi – 316; Yemi Osinbajo – 235; Ahmed Lawan – 152; Yahaya Bello – 47; Dave Umahi – 28; Prof Ben Ayade – 37; and Rochas Okorocha – 0.
Also,The Nation reported that Tinubu scored the highest votes at the ongoing presidential primary of the party in Abuja.
It reported that he polled 1, 271 votes to defeat others after collation and counting of the accreditation votes at the primary.
Details of the result, according to the paper, are as follows: David Umahi- 38; Tunde Bakare-0; Ahmed Rufai Sani-4; Rotimi Amaechi- 316; Emeka Nwajuba-1; Rochas Okorocha-0;Yahaya Bello-47 ;Tien Jack Rich-0; Ogbonnaya Onu-1; Lawan-152; Ben Ayade-37; Yemi Osinbajo – 235; and Ikeobasi Mokelu: 0.
