Leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the south-west will meet with presidential aspirants from the region on Friday in Lagos state, WesternPost is reporting.
The meeting is said to be scheduled to hold at the Lagos government house.
Bisi Akande, a former interim chairman of the APC, will reportedly preside over the meeting.
The south-west leaders are said to be concerned over the number of aspirants on the platform of the APC from the southern region who have expressed their intention to contest the presidency in the 2023 general election.Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Bola Tinubu, a former Lagos governor; Kayode Fayemi; Ekiti governor; and Ibikunle Amosun, former Ogun governor, are among the presidential hopefuls from the south-west region.
The aim of the meeting is to work out plans to ensure that the south-west does not lose the ticket because of the number of hopefuls that have declared their interest to run, it was learnt.
“Akande, who is well respected across political divides in the region, and other conveners of the meeting want to see that the list of aspirants from south-west is pruned down so that the region does not lose out of the presidential ticket of APC,” a source was quoted as saying.“The leaders are worried that if the south-west does not get its act together, we may lose the APC presidential ticket to another region. It is even more worrisome that the four aspirants from APC are from the same political family.
“The south-east is making a legitimate claim to the presidency. Even the south-south that just had the presidency with President Jonathan wants a shot at it again with aspirants coming out of the region.”
Meanwhile, the APC has not taken an official decision on zoning its presidential ticket.