Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu has named former Borno State governor Kashim Shettima as his running mate.
Shettima will be Tinubu’s vice-presidential candidate for the 2023 general elections scheduled for 25th February 2023.
Tinubu announced on Sunday in Daura the hometown of President Muhammadu Buhari in Katsina State.
A member of Tinubu Campaign Organisation who requested anonymity had hinted on Sunday in Abuja that the APC candidate has chosen a running mate.
The source said Tinubu would make the name of the candidate public this week.
“The vice-presidential nominee may most likely be a former governor and senator from the North-East of Nigeria.
“The person is also by accident of birth a Muslim, confirming what Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State said on Saturday that Tinubu had settled for a Muslim-Muslim ticket,’’ the source said.
The source added that in picking the running mate, Tinubu was not thinking about religion, but about the candidate’s competence, exposure, and intellectual depth.
“The considerations given for the choice of a running mate were dictated by the need to choose an individual capable of working with the presidential candidate to take Nigeria to greater heights,’’ the source said.
Tinubu during a scheduled Sallah homage to President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura, Katsina, on Sunday briefed him on his chosen running mate.
Kano State governor Abdullahi Ganduje had on Saturday disclosed that Tinubu will announce a Muslim running mate in the coming week.
Tinubu in mid-June submitted the name of Ibrahim Masari, a Katsina politician, as a placeholder for his running mate to beat the deadline of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
INEC mandates all political parties to submit names of candidates for presidential and governorship elections with the names of vice presidential candidate and deputy governorship candidate.
