Gov El Rufai Reveals Last Minute Alignment Which Gave Tinubu Ticket; Says North East Goes Where North West Goes

By Ayodele Oni

High-wired politics which preceded the just concluded Presidential Primary Election of the ruling All Progressive Congress, (APC) still continues to unravel, a week after the contest.

Kaduna state Governor, Nasir El Rufai, in a Channel’s Television interview programme, revealed how the pendulum swung in favour of the former Lagos state Governor, Bola Tinubu.

Rufai disclosed that the North-West and North-East national delegates chose Bola Tinubu instead of former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, and Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo.

According to him, Governors of the North-West met and decided that Tinubu, who is the National leader of the APC, is the most sellable of the five Southern aspirants submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari.

“President Muhammadu Buhari refused to pick a particular candidate out of the five and insisted he asked the governors to allow the delegates to decide.”

Tinubu won the primary election with1,271 to defeat his closest challenger, Amaechi, who polled 316, while Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, came only third in the primaries, polling 235.

“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 overwhelmingly, 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.”