Prof. Ajayi Boroffice, the senator representing Ondo North Senatorial District, has resigned to make way for All Progressives Congress National Leader and presidential aspirant Bola Tinubu.
He announced this while speaking at the party’s ongoing national convention.
Previously, Jigawa State Governor Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Dimeji Bankole, Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, former Governor of Ogun State Ibikunle Amosun, and Senator Godswill Akpabio stepped down for Tinubu.
Selected APC members gathered on Tuesday to vote in key primaries to select a candidate for next year’s election to replace President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
More than 2,300 APC delegates will choose a candidate to face 75-year-old Atiku Abubakar of the opposition People’s Democratic Party, among others, in the February 25 presidential election.
Buhari, who is stepping down after the two terms allowed by the constitution, arrived at the Eagle Square convention centre early in the evening, before voting began.
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The Nigerian leader has spent the days leading up to the convention negotiating with APC leaders to reach an agreement on a party candidate.
“The fate of the party depends on what we do here,” APC party chairman Abdullahi Adamu said, echoing Buhari’s call for unity in the ranks.
“We cannot go into the general election next year without putting our house in order.”
Part of the APC’s candidate debate revolves around “zoning,” an unofficial agreement among political elites that Nigeria’s presidency should alternate between those from the predominantly Christian south and those from the predominantly Muslim north.
After Northern Buhari, observers predicted that the presidency would be won by a candidate from the south.
However, the PDP, which held its primary on May 28 and 29, chose Abubakar, a former vice president and political stalwart who is a northern Muslim.
The opposition’s decision to ignore “zoning” has caused the APC to reconsider how their candidate will appeal to the north, where voter numbers and participation are traditionally higher.
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Buhari, the ruling party’s leader, has not declared his support for any candidate and has instructed APC members to “allow the delegates to decide.”
“Our goal must be the victory of our party, and our choice of candidate must be someone who will give the Nigerian masses a sense of victory and confidence even before the elections,” he said last week.
Heavy security was deployed in central Abuja early Tuesday, and streets were gridlocked as hundreds of APC supporters dressed in the party colours of green, white, and red gathered in and around the venue.
