According to the Punch:There had been speculation that the APC was preparing to present a former Head of State, Maj.Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and an erstwhile Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, as its presidential and vice-presidential candidates. It was, however, gathered in Abuja on Thursday that APC strategists and stakeholders had been holding a series of formal and informal consultations over the issue. Party sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity with our correspondent on Thursday, agreed that the issue was the party’s “biggest headache as the 2015 polls draw near.”
One of them said, “Some have suggested a Babatunde Fashola/ Adams Oshiomhole ticket but this was thrown out. Others suggested a Rabiu Kwakwanso/Fashola ticket and it was turned down, yet others suggested Aminu Tambuwual/Fashola ticket and it was also rejected before the Buhari/Tinubu ticket came up.“What some of our leaders don’t seem to understand is that this is not 1993. Neither Buhari nor Tinubu is an Abiola whose generosity transcended ethnic and religious lines on a national scale.”
The source claimed that the issue was threatening to polarise the opposition party along ethno-religious lines.Another APC member and a former Minister of Aviation, Mr. Femi Fani- Kayode, had asked the party to perish any thought of presenting a Muslim/Muslim ticket because it would hurt the Christian community. But another former minister, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, who is currently the APC’s Interim Deputy National Secretary, insisted that the party would present acceptable candidates irrespective of ethnic or religious considerations. El-Rufai, in a statement on his Facebook account, said Nigerians should be looking for competence instead of issues of ethnicity or religious affiliations.
He said, “The APC presidential ticket: Those speculating on this and advising me on all manner of persons and religions should know my views. “The APC will present an integrity-competence ticket not religion. Politics and governance are not to be mixed or dictated to by any religion.
“The APC will present to Nigerians the best persons with the integrity, capacity and competence to create jobs, fight corruption and rebuild our nation without discrimination. “How these persons worship God is private to them and does not matter to discerning Nigerians, particularly young people that suffer most from bad governance, unemployment and the ‘Jonathanian’ culture of impunity.”
The Interim National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, however, insisted on Thursday that the race for the party’s presidential ticket was still open to eligible members, in spite of speculations to the contrary.
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