Baring all other unforeseen circumstances, the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress should be on his way to Saudi Arabia on Friday to attend lesser hajj known among Muslims as Ummrah.
This was after what appeared to be sealed agreements between Tinubu and members of the G-5 Governors who met him in London on Thursday.
A source close to one of the five governors confided in the NPO Reports there have been trade-off over the relationship between Tinubu’s APC and the governors based on the circumstances in their respective states.
Recall that the G-5 Governors are leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party who have fallen out with the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
The five governors, coordinated more by the Rivers state leader, Nyesome Wike, had insisted that a major condition for them to back Atiku would be to remove the national chairman of the party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu.
They had argued that it is not possible for the North to produce the presidential candidate of the party and as well retain the position of the National Chairmanship.
There have been speculations whether the five governors would succumb to entreaties from leaders of the PDP and other emissaries that Atiku had sent to mediate.
At the London meeting which ended in the late hours of Thursday, NPO Reports gathered that the governors had presented a set of demands which would secure their political futures as well as guarantee victory for Tinubu in their respective states.
It was learnt that Tinubu agreed to back the demands of the governors which reflected the local politics peculiar to them respectively.
For instance, while Wike would sought for victory for his governorship candidate from the PDP in Rivers, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State demanded that the APC candidate in Oyo Teslim Folarin be weakened to shore up support for him in the governorship duel in Oyo.
Apart from Makinde who is the only Governor seeking to return to office, others like Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue demanded that he be made to have an easy ride to the senate from his senatorial district in Benue state.
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In the same vein, Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, sought for an easy ride to the Senate just as his counterpart from Enugu, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi also sought for the same favour as condition for supporting Tinubu.
In the case of Oyo State, part of the strategies expected to be deployed to fulfil Tinubu’s side of the agreement would be a systematic withholding of funds for the APC governorship candidate in Oyo, Folarin in order to ensure victory for Makinde as condition for working to ensure Tinubu’s victory.
Recall that Makinde’s Deputy, Bayo Lawal, had spoken to that effect in November when leaders of Afenifere met with Tinubu in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
With five governors working for Tinubu in their respective states, there are indications that the APC candidate is on a path to victory if the PDP finds in impossible to incentify the aggrieved governors ahead of the election.