South-West may produce APC national chairman

There are indications that the South-West may produce the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress formed by opposition political parties.
Investigations on Monday showed that although the merger partners had not agreed on the structure of the new party, zoning of the officials would affect the choice of the APC standard-bearer.
Merger parties last week held a series of meetings to take a final decision on the APC structure.
However, it was gathered, that zones eying the Presidency had not shown much interest in the mega party’s offices.
Investigations revealed that with the North and the South-East eyeing the Presidency, the South-West would produce the party’s chairman.
A top official of one of the parties, who confided in one of our correspondents, said, “We have yet to agree on the structure of the APC. But from all indications, the South-West will produce the chairman.”
The source said the various interests were making calculations ahead of 2015 general elections.
He explained that a decision on the party structure and the membership of the Interim Management Committee would have far-reaching implications on which part of the country produces the APC standard-bearer.
He said, “You know, if, for example, the national chairman comes from a certain area, you do not expect the party’s presidential candidate to come from the same area. These are some of the issues that have to be resolved quickly before we move forward.”
He also spoke about the perceived interest of Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwual, in the presidential ticket of the APC.
He said, “Truly, Tambuwal has shown interest in the presidential ticket. He is banking on a situation where if the party leaders are not able to reach a consensus on who to fly the flag among the current members of the party, then he will step in.”
However,  the National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and his counterpart in the Congress for Progressive Change, Rotimi Fashakin, said what was paramount was the issue of the party structure.
Mohammed said, “We have already agreed on our constitution and our manifesto.  The number of offices to be created and officers to be elected into them have been agreed upon based on the constitution of the party.
Fashakin said, “We have talked at various levels of leadership as what should be what.
“We are leaving it for our leaders, the merger committees have their terms of reference. They are working out modalities among themselves.”
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission on Monday denied that it had rejected the application by some political parties to merge as APC.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, said the reports were false.
Culled: Punchng