UPDATED: Tinubu, Osoba in closed-door meeting with Ekiti APC aspirants

A national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, and a former governor of Ogun State, Segun Osoba, met with some Ekiti governorship aspirants of the APC on Tuesday evening.

The meeting held at the Lagos State Government Lodge Annex, Asokoro, Abuja.

The meeting came just as the APC announced a new date for its botched primary in Ekiti to elect is flag bearer for the July 12 governorship election.

The first primary, held on Saturday, was halted following violence at the venue as some aspirants accused the organisers of bias. May 11 has been announced as the new date for the primary.

Many of the key aspirants in Ekiti attended Tuesday’s meeting.

Mr Tinubu, though not an official of the APC, is considered by many as the leader of the party in the South-west.

Some of the key aspirants in the Ekiti election have had reasons to work with Mr Tinubu in the past.

Among the 33 APC governorship aspirants are the minister of mines, Kayode Fayemi; a presidential aide, Babefemi Ojudu; a former Ekiti State governor, Segun Oni; and a former aide to Mr Tinubu, Opeyemi Bamidele.

At the end of the meeting, a former national chairman of the party, Bisi Akande, briefed journalists. He said the leaders would advise the party’s national leadership on the proposed fresh primary in Ekiti.

“We are going to talk to the party about what the aspirants have said and what we all think is best, and we know that the party will take the right decision.

“We are going to convey our resolution to the party and the party will be able to tell you,” he said.

He added that the meeting took a decision on what would be best for the party and the country generally.

On whether a consensus candidate would be considered for the election, Mr Akande said that may be an option for the aspirants.

“Consensus is already in our constitution and it is an option; also primary election is already in our constitution.

“But what we want is the general happiness of the leaders of the party, the contestants and our party,” he said.

He, however, added that the aspirants were asked to think about arriving at a consensus candidate ahead of the rescheduled primary slated for Friday.

The party on Saturday, conducted a primary election to pick its candidate for the Ekiti poll, but the exercise was marred by violence, which led to its cancellation by election committee.

With the fresh primary set for Friday, the eventual winner will be the main challenger to the PDP candidate, Kolapo Olusola, who emerged from the party’s primary on Tuesday.

More details later…