The Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday said those criticizing him over his choice of Kashim Shettima as his running mate in the 2023 polls had approached him for the position.
He stated that the majority of them were close to him and that they had shown interest in being his running mate, an invitation he claimed he politely declined.
Tinubu said this in Abuja, during an interactive meeting with the Christian Association of Nigeria’s leadership, presided over by Archbishop Daniel Ukoh.
Shettima, a fellow Muslim and former governor of Borno State, was selected as the APC standard bearer, which sparked a tsunami of protest and criticism from many Nigerians, including the leadership of CAN.
Most of them, he claimed, were close to him, and some had expressed interest in running as his running partner, an invitation he claimed he politely declined.
Babachir Lawal, a former secretary to the Government of the Federation and close associate of Tinubu, was one among many who opposed the Muslim-Muslim ticket, calling it “a fatal miscalculation.”
Bishop of the Diocese of Sokoto and a well-known Christian figure, Fr. Mathew Kukah, claimed that the ruling party was inconsiderate to choose a candidate of the same religion despite abusing its position of authority and misusing possibilities that were presented to it in 2015.
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