Some All Progressives Congress (APC) sources have disclosed that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was the first Presidential aspirant the APC Governors met with, even though the Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi; Bola Tinubu and other APC Presidential aspirants had publicly declared their interest in the race ahead of the VP.
“This is indicative of who is seen as the undisputed frontrunner and potentially the most popular of the aspirants”, an APC Party source said.
However, the VP officially declared his intentions to Nigerians today, having met the Governors as a group yesterday.
Thelagosimes gathered that all the other aspirants had previously declared without consulting the APC Governors or meeting with them as a group.
A source said the meeting the APC Governors held with Tinubu the day after they met the VP in his residence was a knee-jerk reaction to the one the Governors had with the VP on Sunday.
There has been no mention as yet whether the Governors would even meet other aspirants, including Amaechi, the Ebonyi State Governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha and others who have also publicly shown interest in the Presidential race.
According to reports, when Tinubu got to know of the Governors’ intending meeting with the VP, he quickly instructed the Lagos State Governor Babjide Sanwo-Olu to mobilise all the Governors to see if it was possible for him to meet the Governors first. Reports indicated that Sanwoolu ran up and down to hold the meeting on Friday, all to no avail.
However, the aborted attempt led to the holding of the meeting today but only on the condition the APC Governors gave that they would meet Asiwaju if he came to a venue set by the Governors, which was the Lodge of the Kebbi State Government.
The Kebbi state Governor, Senator Abubakar Bagudu is the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, PGF.