Fresh facts have emerged as to why top guns in the the All Progressive Congress (APC), including Ex Governor , Senator Bukola Saraki, and Governor Rotimi Amaechi rejected Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as running mate to Muhammadu Buhari.
Sources hinted that aside from the Muslim/Muslim ticket thing, Tinubu was opposed on the basis of his "past" ─ although his supporters argue that there is no case against him, neither has he been convicted in any court of law. But records show he had a plea dead to forfeit all proceeds from his drug deals, which in it self is technically a conviction.
Tinubu also has issues with his resume. His certificates, place of birth, parentage are all questionable. All the schools he claimed to have attended cannot be verified. His celebrated University of Toronto case is still fresh. It is instructive to point out that Yemi Osinbajo was one of his counsels in that case.
Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the party, had ceded the choice of his running mate to Tinubu as the political leader of the south-west, which is the second largest voting bloc in the country. In his calculations, Buhari had sought to avoid the mistakes he made in the past when he picked his running mates all by himself, deciding that a major power bloc should be involved this time around.
Another reason why Buhari ceded was because Tinubu mobilized the APC Governors to provide huge cash to checkmate Abubakar Atiku at the convention.
Tinubu who provided the bulk of the cash used to induce delegates in favor of Buhari, wanted the VP slot. But he had plan B. He listed his wife,Oluremi, and the current running mate Yemi Osinbajo. But party men like Amaechi who spent a fortune on Buhari and Saraki insisted the APC could not afford to have a VP like Tinubu with his damaged brand.
Amaechi, Babatunde Fashola. Adams Oshiomhole, Osinbajo, Remi Tinubu and Rochas Okorocha were on he card. But Tinubu had a stiff opposition money from men like Amaechi and Saraki.
At the end, he was forced to back down. But he had a proviso, Buhari must pick one of his lackeys, Remi or Osinbajo or kiss his support good bye. They took his threat seriously because of his mercantile disposition.
Tinubu maintained that, he must have a say since he mobilized the cash that checkmated Atiku. Atiku, it was learnt had $3000 per delegate but Tinubu convinced the APC Governors to ensure each got $5,000.
This sombre cloud has been hanging now over the Bola Tinubu camp since the bombshell exposed the fact that, aside from the celebrated case of Tinubu's certificate forgery scandal regarding his purported degree from a Chicago university, the Jagaban was once tried extensively for drug trafficking in the USA.
So damning are the disclosures that they are certain to smear the crusading image of an APC that Nigerians believe is composed of morally superior citizens, who are on a mission to repair a nation vandalized by the PDP's much touted rein of corruption, brigandage and impunity
- Ikhide
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