A leading Northern politician Alhaji Tanko Yakasai has said President Muhammadu Buhari would likely hand over the baton of leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as the party’s presidential candidate in 2023.
Yakasai, who had before the presidential election made similar prediction, was certain the baton would change hands especially following the large votes and material support the party received from the South-west in the just concluded 2019 general election.
“There may be an unwritten understanding that when President Muhammadu Buhari finishes, the Vice President will likely be the next presidential candidate of the APC.
“If it’s not Osinbajo, then somebody from there, probably (Bola Ahmed) Tinubu will likely emerge as the candidate of the APC,” Yakasai told The Interview.
Yakasai, who also gave reasons he opposed Buhari’s re-election, made the prediction against the backdrop of the contention between South-east and South-west over whose turn it would be to have the APC presidential ticket in 2023.
Blueprint newspapers note that key APC political actors from these regions had repeatedly urged party members, supporters and the electorate to rally round President Buhari’s second term bid as a guarantee for the North’s support for their bid for the presidential ticket in 2023.
In fact, the 2019 presidential campaign of the APC was dogged by controversy as APC political bigwigs from these regions sought to counter each other in attempts to convince their electorate that it would be its turn to produce the next president.
However, Yakasai said: “I don’t see any possibility that the party will think of giving its candidacy to the South-east, against the support it got from the South-west. Apart from the votes, don’t forget that APC also enjoyed material support from the South-west.”
The elder statesman said the 11th colloquium organised to mark the APC National Leader, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s 67th birthday in Abuja Thursday, has been described in some circles as the first major staging post.
Nonetheless, some Igbo leaders including the United Progressive Party (UPP) national chairman, Chief Chekwas Okorie in a swift reaction dismissed the prediction saying the South-east would rely on the integrity of President Buhari to clinch the APC presidential ticket in 2023.