APC Governors Kick As Tinubu Backs Shettima As Running Mate
The decision of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to pick former Borno State Governor, Senator Kashim Shettima, has not gone down well with governors elected on the party’s platform.
Indications have emerged disclosing that APC governors want one of their colleagues to be picked as a running mate to Tinubu as compensation for their support during the party’s presidential primary, where they moved to stop the imposition of Senate President Ahmad Lawan by the National Chairman of the APC, Adamu Abdullahi.
While pushing for the running mate ticket to go to the North-East, particularly from Borno State, APC governors are against any one of Katsina getting it if it eventually goes to the North-West.
This is because the state had produced late President Umaru Yar’Adua and incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.
A source told Vanguard that stakeholders want the North-East, especially Borno State, to produce the vice president in 2023.
The source said: “The APC governors are pushing that the presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, should pick his vice presidential candidate from among them because of the role they played to stop the action of the APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, who had already settled for the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, as the presidential candidate of the ruling party.
“There are strong feelings that though the governors want one of them, Tinubu wants Senator Kassim Shettima as his vice-presidential candidate.”
With Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna and Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano out of the race despite their support for Tinubu, governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, and his predecessor, Kashim Shettima are the individuals presently being considered.
While the governors prefer a sitting governor in the person of Babagana Zulum of Borno State, a source said Tinubu has zeroed his search on Shettima.
The source revealed that the former Lagos State Governor wants the former Borno Governor because he is a formidable force and well-accepted in the North-East.
He also wants to split the votes from the zone with the former Vice President and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.
It was, however, gathered that former speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, from Bauchi, North-East zone, or Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State, North-Central, who are Christians, are also in the mix should a Muslim-Muslim ticket fail to materialize.
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