Akeredolu, Sanwo-Olu missing as Buhari, Osinbajo meet with APC governors ahead national convention

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who is the Governor of Lagos State and a loyalist to All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was conspicuously missing during a crucial party meeting on Wednesday.

The meeting, which APC governors held with President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, came days before the party’s national convention.

The convention will be held on March 26 and will be key to determining the party’s flag bearer for the 2023 presidential election.

Sanwo-Olu, who snubbed Vice President Osinbajo in Lagos, was missing from photos shot after the critical meeting.

Also missing was Ondo governor Rotimi Akeredolu who, last year, called Tinubu “our Capone in the South-West”.

Tinubu’s ambition to succeed Buhari is an open secret.

With Osinbajo reportedly set to join the presidential race after Saturday’s APC convention, Sanwo-Olu, Akeredolu and other Tinubu loyalists are distancing themselves from their man’s potential political rivals, it appears.

When Osinbajo visited Lagos on Monday, Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Femi Hamzat, failed to show up. They, instead, sent the government’s secretary to welcome the Vice President.

Buhari has not declared any support for Osinbajo but the president’s body language doesn’t indicate that Tinubu will get his endorsement.