The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has shelved his plan of becoming the party’s chairman of the Board of Trustees, it has been gathered.
An impeccable source within the APC said that Tinubu had thrown his weight behind a former Governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande, who is a former interim chairman of the party.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar is still in the race.
The source said, “Asiwaju is not interested in the BoT chairmanship. He has endorsed Chief Akande, his ally.”
The source who spoke on condition of anonymity added, “The BoT chairman can only give advice but it is a powerful position. In 2014 we underestimated the power of the deputy publicity secretary of the APC. Today, when Timi Frank speaks, the media publishes his reports. Similarly, the BoT position may be advisory but whenever the chairman speaks, everyone listens. The chairman of such an organ has the power to cause crisis or foster peace.”
The source admitted that there were two major factions within the APC.
According to him, those supporting Senate President Bukola Saraki belong to Atiku camp while the others are in Tinubu’s camp.
“Timi Frank belongs to Saraki and Atiku’s camp and that is why he is attacking the party. It was Saraki who even nominated him as the deputy spokesman because that position was originally zoned to the North.
“So, we cannot afford to make a similar mistake in this BoT issue. Atiku still has plans to become president in 2019. Should he become the BoT chairman, he might hijack the party structure,” the source said.
The APC had last week stated that the BoT would be replaced by an Elders’ Council as part of a planned restructuring of the advisory body.
This was part of the decisions reached at the end of the party’s national caucus meeting held at the Presidential Villa.
It was gathered that apart from a change of nomenclature, the membership of the body is also to be trimmed from its current number of over 200.
