There are strong indications that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has began intensive consultations towards declaring to contest the 2015 Presidential election under the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC).
Sources close to the speaker, said that he has already set up Tambuwal Presidential Project (TPP) to work out the modalities for the realization of his ambition. Membership of the TPP is said to be drawn from top politicians in the North, members of the National Assembly, as well as APC chieftains.
It would be recalled that speaker Tambuwal was, a couple of weeks ago, in Otta, the country home of the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for a private meeting with the former leader.
It was gathered that barring any last minutes change of plans, Tambuwal will contest the 2015 Presidential elections under the banner of APC as he is seen as the as the most acceptable among Northern politicians. His choice as a presidential material, according to inside sources, is to represent the loud call for the return of power to the North in 2015.
It was learnt on good authority that those in the North who are following the emerging politics, are of the opinion that Tambuwal, coming from Sokoto State, a key North Western state of the country, would be in better position to slug it out with President Goodluck Jonathan in the event that the President emerged the PDP presidential candidate.
Already, top echelons of APC, who are not particularly comfortable with Buhari running for the Presidency on the party’s platform, are currently said to be holding clandestine meetings to convince the Speaker to join the party and contest the Presidential ticket of the party.
It would be recalled that Governor Aliyu Wammako of Sokoto State recently decamped to APC.
However, Tambuwal cannot leave the PDP now, as he would forfeit his seat in the National Assembly under the new electoral law.
Although, he has not acceded to the APC’s overtures yet, his close associates said his body language is encouraging, but that as a politician, he has to calculate well before deciding on what to do. [myad]