The presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, Muhammadu Buhari, has announced Tunde Bakare as his running mate in the April 9 presidential polls.
The choice of Mr. Bakare, the fiery preacher and general overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Lagos, was announced in a statement by the spokesman of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Yinka Odumakin.
The statement said that Mr. Buhari hinged his choice of Mr. Bakare “on the need to put the best feet forward” in the forthcoming presidential contest. His name has been forwarded alongside that of the former head of state to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The choice of Bakare
The emergence of the cleric ended months of speculations over the choice of a running mate to the former head of state.
Among those earlier speculated to pick the ticket were former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu; his Anambra State counterpart, Chris Ngige; a former attorney general of Lagos State, Yemi Osibajo; and former governor of Ekiti State, Niyi Adebayo.
They are all members of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which had entered into alliance talks with the CPC.
In his first reaction, Mr. Bakare said, “To whom much is given, much is expected, and this is an opportunity to fully stand for all that I have preached and said at every given opportunity. It is a call to go out there to all Nigerians that we need to use the coming election to vote the tyrants out of power.
“A new Nigeria is here and achieving it depend on all of us, so I appreciate joining hands with other capable hands to make this happen. We can do it and we will do it and get there.”
Asked why he accepted to run with Mr. Buhari, he said, “If you understand my passion for this country, demonstrated over the years, I want to see a Nigeria that works in my lifetime and that was one of the motivation that started the Save Nigeria Group. In all my ministerial life, maybe three quarters of my messages is all on Nigeria and what is happening to the country at large.”
Why the alliance flopped
Discussions on the alliance between CPC and ACN were said to have been variously jeopardised by the alleged insistence of Mr. Tinubu to be Mr. Buhari’s running mate. Similarly, the party on which to run was another sour point.
The ACN was said to have insisted its platform should be used, since it is coming into the alliance as the senior partner, especially with its control of four states.
Although Mr. Buhari, whose party is enjoying large followership in the north, was not averse to the platform, he was said to have consistently opposed the proposal for Mr. Tinubu to pick the running mate ticket because of his (Tinubu) religious background. Both are Muslims.
It was learnt that the former head of state was conscious of his general perception as a religious fanatic and, therefore, a choice of another Muslim as running mate could spell electoral doom for him in the third outing as a presidential contender.
The former Lagos State governor had also insisted that he is not an extreme Muslim and often said his wife, Remi, is a Christian. Mr. Tinubu was also said to have made reference to Moshood Abiola/Babagana Kingibe Muslim-Muslin ticket in 1993.
Yet, the emergence of the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, as the presidential candidate of ACN two weeks ago threw up another challenge to the talks.
Reports say both Messrs Buhari and Ribadu met in Kaduna during which the former head of state prevailed on the former anti-corruption czar to step down for him. There was no breakthrough in the talks.
However, a source in the party said yesterday that Mr. Buhari settled for Mr. Bakare not only because of the difficulty of a breakthrough in his party’s talks with the ACN, but also because he wanted to show his religious liberality.
It is, however, not clear if the selection of a running mate would further jeopardise the ongoing talks, as parties still have up till February 21 to substitute candidates.
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