Barely seven days to the deadline of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the withdrawal of a presidential candidate or his running mate, governors and stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the North West and North East have intensified the push to clinch the running mate slot.

It could be recalled that the ruling party had submitted the names of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Alhaji Kabir Ibrahim Masari as the presidential candidate and running mate respectively in a bid to meet INEC’s June 17, deadline for the submission of the nomination of presidential candidates and their running mates.

Masari, a National Welfare Officer of the APC during the Adams Oshiomhole era was nominated as a placeholder running mate pending the conclusion of consultations by stakeholders of the ruling party.

In its timetable for the 2023 general elections, INEC has fixed July 15, 2022, as the last day for presidential and national assembly candidates to withdraw from the race in line with Section 31 of the Electoral Act 2022.

Before the nomination of Masari as the placeholder running mate, credible sources told the daily trust that Tinubu had settled for Senator Kashim Shettima, a former Governor of Borno State, as his running mate.

The push by the 22 governors who are members of the party to secure the seat for one of them is the principal factor that has been delaying the resolution of the impasse over the vice-presidential slot.

Fourteen of the 22 Governors of the APC are from the Northern part of the country. The northern governors laid the foundation for the emergence of Tinubu when they insisted that the party’s presidential ticket must be zoned to the South.

Multiple sources said that the insistence by the governors to produce the running mate was responsible for the delay. In the North West, Governors Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State and Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State are being mentioned.

In the North Central, Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State is said to be eyeing the seat. However, his ambition is being threatened by the promoters of the Muslim-Muslim ticket. Borno State governor, Prof Babagana Zulum is also being mentioned, in addition to Senator Shettima, from the North East.

Last week, governors of the party in the North West met and resolved that the region must fill the party’s vice-presidential slot.

In a communiqué signed by its APC Zonal Vice Chairman, Salihu Mohammed Lukman, said the APC governors, governorship candidates and ministers from the states in the zone were part of the resolution that the ticket should be given to the region.

It could be recalled that on Monday, a group known as the Tinubu Support Organisation (TSO) recommended El-Rufai to Tinubu.

A source close to El-Rufai said for the party to win the presidential election, the running mate must be picked from the North West.

The source said, “Like it or not, the North West has the highest votes in the country. Six out of the seven states in the region are governed by APC. If the zone is given the vice-presidential slot, we will win.

“The issue being raised that President Muhammadu Buhari is from the zone does not hold water. In the North East, APC and PDP share the six states equally. Borno, Gombe and Yobe are governed by APC, while Adamawa, Bauchi and Taraba are PDP states.

“The presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, is from the geopolitical zone, so giving them the running mate won’t make much difference because we will retain our states in 2023,” he said.

But a ranking federal lawmaker from the North East said among all the contenders, El-Rufai had the least national appeal and acceptability.

He said, “It won’t be fair to concentrate power in the North West. So, the best zone in the North East and nobody is standing as tall as Senator Shettima since we have settled for the Muslim-Muslim ticket,” he said.

Another source said the members of the camp of the defunct Congress for Progressive Congress (CPC) were also pushing for one of their members to be considered for the seat.

The source added that the camp had secured the support of some elements in the presidency, noting that the members of the defunct CPC were behind the candidature of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami. (Daily Independent)

Update news