The Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has asserted that he chose former Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, as his running mate simply because he is ‘competent and reliable’ and not for religious reasons as speculated from several quarters.
The former Governor of Lagos State made this known on Sunday while speaking to newsmen in Daura in an interview monitored by Africa Today News, New York.
This was even as he claimed that his party, the APC has a better programme for the country and is ready to serve.
Tinubu made these assertions shortly after he visited President Muhammadu Buhari, at his Daura home in Katsina State.
Speaking shortly after a closed-door session with the President, he explained why he chose Shettima as running mate saying, ‘I chose him because he is competent, capable and reliable.’
On the purpose of his visit, he said ‘We came to pay homage to him (Buhari) and to share part of his holiday and lunch. And to discuss the question of my substantive running mate.
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‘The one we put in as placement has withdrawn today. There has been an announcement to replace him fully with a substantive candidate, Kashim Shettima.’
Quizzed about his party’s chances in next year’s presidential elections, the former Lagos State governor said, ‘We are going to win Insha Allah. Because we are a progressive party. We have the focus on the Nigerian problems and we face the challenge squarely and we’re not running away from it. We have a better programme for the people and about the people and we are ready to serve.
‘Within a short period, there’s been a strong foundation on infrastructure. We faced a challenge of terrorism we know that. It’s only a poor thinker and observer who will not recognize the challenge. But once you recognize the challenge, you can prepare yourself very well to tackle it and defeat it. And that is what our party is all about.’
Earlier on Sunday, the placeholder for the position of running mate to the APC presidential candidate, Ibrahim Masari, announced his resignation to the party.