Obasanjo Gets 3 Ministerial Slots As APC Shares Power

Leaders of  the All Progressives Congress (APC) were involved in marathon meetings throughout last week in Abuja in what was described as “last minute confidence-building exercise.”

Strategic leaders of the party had arrived Abuja on Monday and remained in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) till Saturday morning when some of them headed for Lafia, Nasarawa State for the grand finale of the presidential campaign rally in the North-Central state.

Sources told Sunday Tribune that as part of confidence-building aimed at ensuring that stakeholders go into the election with a sense of belonging, each of the leaders was told what he is likely to get in the event the APC wins the presidential election on 28 March.

It was gathered that though some discussions on power sharing had actually taken place before now, the exercise of last week was aimed at rebuilding confidence in the party and firming up a zoning arrangement.

“Some strategists of the party involved in the power sharing arrangement have been meeting in Abuja since the beginning of last week. Many flew into the capital city on Monday and they remained in town till Saturday. What could be regarded as the grand finale of the meeting took place at the Imo State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja on Friday evening. The arrangements were finalised at the meeting,” a source said.

It was gathered that each of the leaders from the geopolitical zones has been given a sense of belonging in the arrangement.

For instance, a source said that former President Olusegun Obasanjo was offered three ministerial slots, FCT, Interior and Defence.

It was also gathered that the position of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) was zoned to the South-South with the like of Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said to have been penciled in for the job.

It was also learnt that the spokesman of APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has been penciled in as Minister of Information, while Honourable Abike Dabiri has been penciled in as Special Adviser to The President on Media and Publicity.

Nigerian Tribune