How Buhari doused APC governors’ anger over choice of Shettima as Tinubu’s running mate

 

President Muhammadu Buhari, reportedly doused the anger of the All Progressives Congress, APC governors over the manner the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, handled the selection of his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima.

It was gathered that it took the intervention of President Buhari to pacify the governors and rally them to support the Tinubu-Shettima ticket when they visited his Daura home, Katsina State on Monday.

MuchTalksBlog had reported that Tinubu confirmed Shetima, as his running mate for 2023 presidential election after meeting with President Buhari in Daura on Sunday.

According to PUNCH, sources at the private meeting between the President and the nine APC governors said although the APC candidate reserved the right to pick his running mate, they had not concluded their discussions with Tinubu before he went ahead to announce Shettima.

Recall that it was reported that the North-West governors preferred the Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu; or his Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai; because of the voting strength of the zone.

The governors were reportedly angry when they heard that Tinubu had picked Shettima.

Tinubu had earlier revealed on Sunday that he hadn’t even informed Shettima of his decision to pick him as his running mate.

“At the meeting the governors expressed their anger over Tinubu’s decision to pick Shettima. It was as if he didn’t even care about the opinion of the governors even though he will rely on them for mobilisation. Buhari, however, pleaded with them to accept Shettima since he is a loyal party member,” said an aide to one of the governors.

PUNCH reported that a source close to a North-West governor said the governors were all surprised by Tinubu’s announcement.

“We all watched the announcement on television just like every other Nigerian. Tinubu did not discuss this with anyone. He even admitted that he had not informed Shettima of his decision to pick him as running mate. This was not proper at all and the governors made this known,” he said.

The aforementioned publication reported that an associate of Tinubu also said that Tinubu was not supposed to have made the announcement in that manner.

“What happened was just like Tinubu’s announcement at the Presidential Villa in January when he told the media about his intention to contest. Sometimes, he makes these announcements in the spur of the moment. Many of us were shocked,” he added.

The Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum, Abubakar Bagudu, confirmed the governors’ surprise at Tinubu’s announcement when he told journalists at the end of the meeting with President Buhari that they were surprised by the choice of Shettima as the APC vice-presidential candidate.

Bagudu said, “We were pleasantly surprised when Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu announced in Daura on Sunday that Senator Kashim Shettima was the vice-presidential candidate. We were happy that it was no less a person than Senator Shettima who was announced the vice-presidential candidate.

“No doubt, Senator Shettima would complement the good qualities of Asiwaju Tinubu. We are very happy with the choice. The two will complement each other and will surely consolidate on the achievements of the President in the past seven years.”