Presidential aspirants of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South West are set to meet in Lagos on Friday to discuss the possibility of pruning down the list of aspirants or coming up with a consensus candidate, Daily Trust learnt.
The meeting is being convened by former governors of Ogun and Osun states, Chief Olusegun Osoba and Chief Bisi Akande, respectively.
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Daily Trust learnt that the two APC chieftains were worried over the increasing number of aspirants emerging from the zone.
So far, five aspirants are eyeing the APC ticket to contest the presidential election in the 2023 general elections.
They include the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), Dr Kayode Fayemi; former governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Dimeji Bankole.
Daily Trust learnt that the move by the duo of Osoba and Akande was informed by the need to prevent a potential loss of the ticket by the South West geopolitical zone if the leaders did not put their house in order.
Those invited to the meeting, it was learnt, included the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, APC governors in the zone and Deputy Senate Leader, Prof. Ajayi Boroffice, among other leaders of the party in the zone.
The meeting is to hold at the Lagos Government House Marina, according to a source.
Meanwhile, Tinubu had a chance meeting in Lagos with the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Ameachi, who is another APC presidential aspirant.
Tinubu’s media aide, Tunde Rahman, confirmed this in a tweet.
“HE Asíwájú Tinubu and Hon. Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, at a chance encounter at the private wing of the airport in Ikeja, Lagos this afternoon,” he wrote.