A report has it that President Bola Tinubu will this week name his running mate for the 2027 presidential election.
Sources that spoke to Nigerian Tribune said there was a slight fallout when Tinubu submitted his Expression of Interest and Nomination forms for the All Progressives Congress (APC) through the chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), Senator Hope Uzodinma.
The source said Uzodinma had taken the forms to the vice president, Kashim Shettima, and that both had gone to the APC national secretariat to submit them.
Findings by the aforementioned publication revealed that Villa operatives were not pleased with Shettima’s involvement in the process of submission of the forms and that it made it appear as if all the dust raised around his eligibility for the position in the 2027 elections had been settled.
With Shettima stealing the show at the form submission venue, some Villa operatives were said to have gone to work and were allowed to shake the Imo State governor a bit, to check his loyalty to the system.
While Uzodinma is said to have also attempted to involve Senate President Godswill Akpabio in the forms submission process, a source said Akpabio escaped the show by telling the emissary that he was already on his way to plenary.
One fallout from the development for Uzodinma was a bid by some members of the PGF to unseat him, an uprising that was thwarted after what sources called a quick intervention by President Bola Tinubu.
It was learnt that the presidency did not call for the total removal of Uzodinma but the plan was to “shake him small.” Reports later indicated that an enquiry was sparked over funds traced to the PGF, but it was learnt that the vice president’s involvement in the submission of nomination forms was the main issue behind the pushback against the Imo State governor.
“The vice president’s involvement in the form submission process made things look like the president had settled for him, while discussions were ongoing at the time,’’ said a source.
There were suggestions that the governor of Imo had taken steps deliberately to give that impression and it was decided that he should be investigated.
It was confirmed that the PGF chairman made what a source described as a “inadvertent error” and it was decided that he should be spared from any further action, sources further said.
Sources said President Tinubu was about to give in to pressure and allow Shettima on the ticket, but there were still some “T’s to be crossed and “I’s to be dotted before conclusion.
Outside Shettima, it was also gathered that the feud that almost cost the Imo State governor the position of PGF is also a source of the tense moments being experienced by the camp of the Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara.
Fubara had a tough job to scale the screening process for the APC early last week, but was eventually cleared to partake in the primaries, which seemed to be skewed against his loyalists.
With the dust settling on Uzodinma’s saga, it was gathered that Fubara too might start to heave sighs of relief.
