Former Vice-President Atiku Abukakar is leaving no stone unturned to clinch the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the February 14, 2015 election.

But he has one major obstacle: Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari who seems to be favoured by the party leadership for the plum job. The third likely presidential aspirant, Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State, is most unlikely to get the ticket, although he has indicated interest in the office.

Also, New Telegraph gathered that another person being touted for the party’s ticket, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, may not run after all.

A source said Tambuwal would vie for the Sokoto State governorship race on the platform of the APC. Although Tambuwal belongs to PDP, there are indications that he will soon leave the party for APC.

In addition, former Kwara State Governor, Senator Bukola Saraki and the publisher of Leadership Newspapers, Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah, have also shown interest in the APC ticket. But it was learnt that the duo may not go far in actualising their ambitions as they are not receiving necessary encouragement from the party leadership. Given the scenario, a source confided in New Telegraph at the weekend that the APC’s presidential ticket is a two-horse race between Buhari and Atiku.

Buhari, a serial presidential candidate since 2003, is taking a shot at the presidency for the fourth time. It was learnt that the party is split between those rooting for Buhari and those canvassing for Atiku’s candidacy. Buhari and Abubakar have embarked on aggressive consultations with APC stakeholders in their bid for the party’s ticket.

The former vice-president last week announced that he would make a formal declaration on September 24 for the presidency. On his part, Buhari is likely to declare for the presidency before September ending or early October. His associates believe his candidacy will determine the extent of APC’s progress in the 2015 presidential election.

The APC convention will hold in October where the presidential candidate will emerge. In the bid for the APC presidential ticket, Atiku has met almost all the APC governors and sought their support. He was the chairman of the retreat of APC governors held in Owerri, Imo State last week and he seized the opportunity to hold separate meetings with most of the 16 APC governors during which he promised to “pick one of them as his running mate if he emerges as the APC presidential candidate.”

“The governors are more comfortable with an Atiku candidacy but the party leadership and entrenched interests prefer Buhari for the party presidential ticket,” the source said.

New Telegraph learnt that the party leadership is poised to checkmate the former vice-president as if the primaries were to be done through direct election, Atiku, with enormous resources, will defeat Buhari. The party will be adopting indirect primaries, using the Electoral College, to pick its candidate.

“If we leave the party primaries open, Atiku has the resources to sway the delegates to his side. We will ensure that money doesn’t determine who gets the party’s ticket,” a member of the National Working Committee (NEC) of the APC .

Already, the former vice-president has met with APC state chairmen, especially in 20 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) where there are no governors elected on the platform of the party. One of the state chairmen of APC told New Telegraph that “Atiku has been supportive of the party at the state level.

It is a giveand- take situation. When he needs us, we will support him.” Why Atiku prefers to pick one of the APC governors as his running mate, the party leadership, especially former governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Tinubu, has suggested three names: Prof. Yemi Osibajo (SAN), Mr. Yemi Cardoso and Senator Ajayi Boroffice.

Tinubu has pencilled in one of the trio as Buhari’s running mate. The choice of Osibajo is based on the fact that he is Christian, which balances out the candidature of a Muslim flagbearer. The professor of Law and a former Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, is a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).

Cardoso, a former Lagos State Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, is an economist and banker while Boroffice is expected to garner support from Ondo/Ekiti axis. It was learnt that the inner caucus of the APC seems to have settled for the candidature of Buhari.

“Don’t forget that Buhari has a cult followership in the North and the success or otherwise of APC depends on Buhari candidacy in the presidential election,” a former minister, who is an associate of Buhari, told New Telegraph. A source in APC told New Telegraph that major stakeholders in the legacy parties – Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) – that formed the APC are rooting for Buhari’s candidature.

“Majority of the APC stakeholders has settled for Buhari as the presidential candidate in the 2015 election but that does not foreclose any other aspirant vying for the office. But we consider Buhari above others as an asset to the APC in its quest for the presidency,” the source said.

It was also learnt that the choice of Buhari was based on his credibility, electoral value, zero tolerance for corruption, wide acceptance and ability to pull crowd. In the permutations of the APC leadership, Buhari is the only person that can confront President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 election.

This is hinged on the strength of his electoral value as demonstrated in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 presidential elections. The APC leadership believed that Buhari’s outing against Jonathan in the 2011 election, in which he polled about 12 million votes, is a major factor considered in settling for his candidature. Buhari, a former head of state and presidential candidate of the CPC, defeated Jonathan in 12 of the 19 Northern states in the 2011 presidential election.

Out of the 19 northern states, Jonathan won in Kwara, Kogi, Plateau, Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba and Adamawa. Buhari, on his part, defeated him in the 12 northern states of Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Borno, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara. It is expected that the fortunes of Jonathan would further be depleted in the North as Kwara is in the hands of APC while the party is sure of winning Nasarawa with the defection of former Governor Abdullahi Adamu to APC. Nasarawa has an APC governor.

However, one major impediment against Buhari is his age. He will be 73 by 2015 and his critics believe that his age may work against his candidacy. But an aide of the former military ruler dismissed this, saying: “Age is not a barrier. In the presidential contest, age is not an issue.

How old was Nelson Mandela and Ronald Reagan when they became presidents of South Africa and United States respectively?” A source, however, said should Atiku lose the APC ticket, he may defect to the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) to contest the 2015 election.

The PDM is being promoted by political associates of the former vicepresident. Atiku had defected from PDP to AC in 2006 in the wake of his crisis with former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He polled 2.6 million votes – seven per cent of the total votes cast in the 2007 presidential election. He later returned to PDP in 2009.

He contested for the PDP presidential ticket in 2011 and lost to Jonathan. The October 11 governorship by-election in Adamawa, his home state, will go a long way to test Atiku’s political relevance ahead of 2015 polls.