*Asiwaju given conditions to come to Kebbi Govt’s Lodge to pitch, as Govs refused to go to his Asokoro residence
APC Governors under the aegis of the Progressive Governors Forum, PGF, rejected Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s preference to host them at Monday’s meeting, and rather asked him to come make his pitch for their support at the Kebbi State Government Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja.
According to top APC sources, the first Presidential aspirant the governors met with was the vice president, although others, including the Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi, Tinubu and other APC Presidential aspirants, had publicly declared their interest in the race ahead of Vice President Osinbajo.
“This is indicative of who is seen as the undisputed frontrunner and potentially the most popular of the aspirants,” an APC source says.
While the vice president only declared on Monday, April 11, having met with the governors on Sunday, April 10, all the other aspirants had declared previously without the APC Governors consulting or meeting with them as a group.
A top source says the meeting the APC Governors held with Tinubu the day after they met the vice president in his residence, was a knee-jerk, reactionary one.
There has been no mention of whether the governors would meet other APC presidential aspirants including Amaechi, Ebonyi State Governor Dave Umahi, Senator Rochas Okorocha and others who have also publicly shown interest in the Presidential race, just yet.
When Tinubu saw the notice of the governors’ meeting with Osinbajo, he quickly instructed the Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to mobilise his colleagues (APC Governors) to see if it was possible to meet with them first.
Reports indicate that Sanwo-Olu was all over the place as he tried to convene the meeting last Friday.
The failed attempt to hold that meeting led to the hurried convening of the Monday meeting, but on the condition that 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.
Kebbi Governor Atiku Bagudu is the Chairman of the PGF.