As part of effors to beat the Friday June 17 deadline given by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to political parties to submit the names of presidential candidates and their running mates, the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu has submitted the name of Kabir Ibrahim Masari.
A party source confirmed that it was true that Tinubu has submitted the name of his running mate, but added that “consultation is still ongoing.”
Masari, who hails from the same state as President Muhammadu Buhari, is reportedly a decoy to help the party beat the INEC deadline and will be changed later on after the party stakeholders have come to an agreement as to who the most suitable running mate for the presidential candidate should be.
However, the presidential candidate will today meet with the President Muhammadu Buhari, for further consultations in order to decide who should be his running mate come 2023.
The party is still under fire from certain bodies, groups and individuals who are strongly kicking against the Muslim/Muslim ticket idea as they fear that a set of the people might be conspired against and request for a balance which will properly satisfy everyone’s interest.
Although according to Governor Umahi, the choice of a running mate is the left for the candidate to make.
According to reports, a list of names have been scribbled down as possible running mates for Tinubu, but no decision has been reached yet regarding that.
A source in the Tinubu’s camp has said that all the northern governors want the position.
The source added that if Tinubu has his way, he would have loved to pick the former Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima as his running-mate, but he wanted the president and the governors to pick.
The source said: “All northern governors want it. If Asiwaju has his way, it will be Senator Kashim. But he wants the president and governors to pick for him.”
When asked why Tinubu does not want to pick his running mate himself, the source stressed he didn’t want to be a ‘winner takes it all.’“He does not want to be the winner takes it all. You need to respect the President. PMB did not choose a VP for himself in 2015,” the source said.
One of the leaders of Tinubu Support Group, Hon. James Faleke was at the party secretariat yesterday, but his mission was not known.
But the source confirmed that Faleke was at the party secretariat yesterday to collect INEC’s form for the presidential and vice presidential candidates to be filled.
Asked if Faleke was there to submit the name of the running mate to Tinubu, the source insisted that no compromise had been reached in the issue of running mate.
“When the decision is made, it would be made known to all and the decision would be made tomorrow (today),” he added.
