Details emerged on Thursday as to how the five presidential hopeful of the All Progressives Congress (APC) fared before the Dr Ogbonaya Onu-led screening committee of the party.The five aspirants are former head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; Kano State governor, Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso; Imo State governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha and the Leadership publisher, Sam Nda-Isaiah.Sources in the party told the Nigerian Tribune that the panel asked only two questions from the presidential hopeful. One of the questions is whether the aspirant would be ready to sign an undertaking to join hands with whoever emerges the eventual candidate and where the aspirant would pick his running mate from.It was confirmed that Nda-Isaiah told the panel he would be ready to sign the undertaking and that he would pick his running mate, a Christian from the South.Okorocha was also said to have told the panel he would pick his running mate, a Muslim from the North, while Atiku told the committee he would sign the undertaking and allow the party decide on his running mate.Kwakwanso was also quoted as saying that he would pick his running mate from the South and he would be a Christian.General Buhari also agreed to sign the undertaking but told the committee that he could pick either a Muslim or a Christian, adding that he would pick someone who would enhance his ticket and allow him to win the election.Sources said that the panel had to drill the General more than the others because of his response.One of the panel members was said to have asked the General whether he did not see religion as an issue in the 2015 election.A source said the General gave an example of the MKO Abiola and Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, who won the June 12 1993 election despite fielding a Muslim/Muslim ticket.A source said some of the panel members were jolted by the comments, making the General to explain his point further.'The screening panel concentrated on two major issues: that all aspirants should sign an undertaking that whoever wins would be supported by all others while individual campaign organisations would be collapsed into the candidate's campaign organisation which the party would set up.The second issue was the choice of their running mates,' the source said.Buhari was said to have told the panel, 'anything that would make me win the election is my concern, after all, Chief M.K.O Abiola and Babagana Kingibe did the same in 1993 and won.'Some of the committee members were said to have, however, reminded the General that he should be mindful that the political complexion of the country had changed .Buhari was further said to have told the panel members that he was only expressing his opinion and that he would comply with the party's resolutions.He said that it should be noted that all the three times he had contested he fielded Christians from the South as running mates.Sources in the party further told the Nigerian Tribune that some party leaders however leaked Buhari's encounter with the panel to his co-contestants.One of the Governors said to be interested in the post of running mate to the party's presidential hopeful was said to have reached out to Buhari and asked that the General should make no further reference to what transpired at the screening as according to him, some other aspirants could play up the issue of Muslim/Muslim ticket.'The General assured the governor that he merely expressed his views at the screening and was willing to do what could ensure victory after all the party has not made up its mind about a Muslim-Muslim ticket,' a source said.
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