A source in the camp of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has dismissed reports of any agreement between Tinubu and members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) G-5 governors.
Reports had emerged on Friday claiming the G-5 governors led by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State had struck a deal to back the presidential ambition of the former Lagos State governor.
But a source told Saturday Vanguard that no such agreement has been struck between the two parties.
While stating that Tinubu holds the ace in the negotiations, the source said the G-5 governors need the APC candidate to remain politically relevant.
The source said, “This is campaign season. People can say and believe anything as long as it suits their parochial interests. It stands to reason on the head for Asiwaju who is the beautiful bride in this case, to accept to work against his own party. Like it or not, he is a major player in the political history of this country at least, since 1999.
“He was the only governor in the class of 1999 that held on to his state Lagos even when other Alliance for Democracy states were hoodwinked into going into the ill-fated alliance with the PDP in 2003.
“How can the same man who used the years afterwards to build bridges and political capital submit himself to people who are at the twilight of their political careers?
“Except for maybe Rivers where the PDP brand remains strong, I don’t see him in desperate need of the G-5 to the point of throwing those who worked with him to build the APC under the bus.
“In fact, most of those in the G-5 need Asiwaju more than he needs them because their actions and utterances over the last few months have effectively weakened the PDP brand. They are certainly not negotiating from the position of strength, we’ve done our homework.”
