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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Nine governors elected on the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform, have backed the nomination of former governor of Borno State, Sen Kashim Shettima, as the running mate to the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in the 2023 general election.
The governors held a one-hour closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at his private residence in Daura, Katsina State, on Monday.
At the end of the meeting, the Governors said they had confidence in the combination of Tinubu and Shettima to ensure victory for the party at the 2023 presidential election.
The nine governors who had a closed-door meeting with Buhari include Aminu Masari (Katsina); Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano); Abubakar Bagudu (Kebbi); Abubakar Bello (Niger); Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa); Hope Uzodinma (Imo); Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti); Simon Lalong (Plateau); and Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna).
Speaking with journalists at the end of the meeting, the chairman of Progressives Governors Forum and Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu, who led the delegation, said: “We were pleasantly surprised when Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu announced in Daura on Sunday that Senator Kashim Ibrahim Shettima was the vice presidential candidate.
“We were happy that it is 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 very happy at the choice. The two will complement each other and will surely consolidate on the achievements of the President in the past seven years.”
Bagudu added that their visit to Daura was to felicitate the President over the Eid-el-Kabir celebration.
Imo State Governor, Uzodinma, added that Shettima’s choice as the vice presidential candidate was a collective decision by all the Progressives Governors, stressing that all the governors would work hard to ensure victory for the APC in the 2023 elections.
“The choice of Senator Shettima as the vice presidential candidate is a collective decision. We shall work hard to ensure victory in all our states,” he said.
Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, also said while the choice of the vice presidential candidate was the prerogative of the presidential candidate, all the APC governors would work to ensure the party’s victory at the 2023 general election.
“A presidential candidate has the prerogative of picking his vice. But ours is to ensure the party’s victory in the presidential election,” Lalong added.