Kashim Shettima,
former governor of Borno, topped the list of 11 persons recommended to be
running mate of Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), by a committee headed by Babachir Lawal, former secretary to
the government of the federation (SGF).
According to Daily
Trust, the panel — planning and strategy
committee of the Tinubu campaign organisation — which Lawal chaired, supervised
the sub-committee that recommended the 11 persons to Tinubu.
The strategic committee was said to have been set up months
ago and had Elisha Abbo, Kashim Ibrahim-Imam, James Faleke, Magnus Abe, Nuhu
Ribadu, Abu Ibrahim, Grace Bent, Musa Sarkin-Adar, among others, as members.
The newspaper said the sub-committee was set up after Tinubu was elected as the APC presidential candidate with the mandate to offer advice on the choice of a running mate.
Bent was picked as the chairperson of the sub-committee and
Lawal’s panel was in charge of overseeing its activities.
Sources, according to the newspaper, said the sub-committee
recommended seven persons from the north-east and four persons from the
north-west geopolitical zones for the vice-presidential position.
Aside from Shettima, those recommended from the north-east
were Kashim Imam, Babagana Zulum, governor of Borno; Yakubu Dogara, former
speaker of the House of Representatives; Amina Mohammed, deputy
secretary-general of the United Nations; Fatima Balla, and Senator Manzo.
Those from the north-west are Nasiru el-Rufai, governor of
Kaduna; Najatu Mohammed, deputy governor of Kaduna; Aliyu Wamakko, former
governor of Sokoto, and Atiku Bagudu, governor of Kebbi.
The news organisation quoted sources as saying the
sub-committee’s report “passed through” Lawal and that Tinubu picked Shettima
in line with the panel’s recommendation.
“In arriving at our recommendation, we looked at all
persuasions including religion, gender and acceptability. We looked at those
who can add value to the ticket,” the source was quoted saying.
“He was part of the decision and the report got to the
presidential candidate through him. First, we sent the soft copy of our report
to Asiwaju before Babachir Lawal took the hard copy to him in London last
Wednesday.”
But Lawal was said to have denied being aware of the
sub-committee’s report.
“I chaired the Bola Tinubu planning and strategy committee,
which was set up to implement strategies for Tinubu to pick the ticket. But I’m
not aware of the sub-committee that recommended running mates. It is not our
work. You know politicians can cook up anything,” Daily Trust quoted him as
saying.
‘MUSLIM-MUSLIM TICKET A DISASTROUS ERROR’
Recall that Lawal criticised Tinubu’s choice of running
mate, describing it as a “disastrous error”.
Tinubu had, unveiled
Shettima as his running mate on Sunday. The development has
elicited varied reactions from Nigerians with some condemning the former Lagos
governor’s decision.
Lawal, who protested the decision on Tuesday, asked the APC
to compel Tinubu to change his choice.
“I thought I will be able to avoid commenting on the
disastrous error by my very good friend, Sen Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his choice
of a running mate,” he had said.
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