The presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Ahmed Tinubu is set to unveil Senator and ex Borno governor, Kashim Shettima tomorrow as his running mate.
According to a statement on Tuesday morning signed by the party’s National Organizing Secretary, Sulaiman Muhammad Argungu, the unveiling event will take place at Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja at 11:00am.
“All Members of the National Executive Committee (NEC), Members of the Progressives Governors’ Forum, Members of APC Caucus in the National Assembly, Members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), Members of the Diplomatic Corps, Presidential Aspirants at the June 2022 Special National Convention, APC State Chairmen, APC State Secretaries and APC State Organizing Secretaries, are, hereby, invited to witness this landmark Official Unveiling of our Great Party’s Vice Presidential Candidate,” Argungu said.
This is coming five days after the APC postponed the unveiling with no reason given for the shift in date. Shettima was meant to have been presented to party members at the APC national Secretariat on July 14, but an APC official told reporters the event has been moved forward.
Tinubu had revealed to news men July 10, that Shettima was the chosen one after a close door meeting, he had with President Buhari in Daura, Kastina State.
The ruling party has continued to receive lots of criticisms from concerned Nigerians, religious leaders, opposition parties and the Christians Association of Nigeria for its choice of the former Borno governor as running mate. The backlash is due to the fact that both Tinubu and Shettima are Muslims, therefore their ticket does not take into consideration the religious diversity of the country.
However, the camp of the former Lagos State governor have defended their choice, saying Shettima was the preferred choice because of his quality and not his religious identity.