By Adeleye Kunle
Many Nigerians have continued to express outrage over the decision of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to name Senator Kashim Shettima as his running mate for the 2023 election.
According to Track News , protesters stormed the APC secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday to register their displeasure with the party’s decision to run a Muslim-Muslim ticket at the same time the former Borno state governor was being presented to party leaders at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja.
Tinubu, speaking at the event to defend his choice of Shettima, said the former Borno State governor’s career in politics and beyond demonstrates that he is eminently qualified not only to deliver that all-important electoral victory but also to fill the role of Vice-President.
Top members of the ruling party, including Governors, aspirants, and delegates from the South East, were conspicuously absent from the event.
Protesters at the APC Hausa-Fulani Youth Forum’s secretariat stated that the protest would continue until the ruling party’s leadership did the right thing.
In a letter to the APC’s National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, obtained by The Tracknews , Abdullahi Mohammadu demanded that Shettima be replaced immediately.
The petition stated in part, “As concerned stakeholders of the APC and those who constitute our party’s voting strength, we find it troubling that such a decision could be made without regard for its implications on the party’s electoral chances and the attendant uproar in the country.” Choosing another Muslim from the country’s northeast as a running mate is both politically and morally untenable.”
The Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) claimed that the APC has already lost 2.2 million votes due to the Muslim-Muslim ticket.
SOKAPU spokesman Luka Binniyat said the presidential election in 2023 would be between the Peoples Democratic Party’s Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party’s Peter Obi.
Dr. Bitrus Pogu, National President of the Middle Belt Forum, stated that the decision to run a Muslim-Muslim ticket would not guarantee the APC victory.
He advised the APC presidential candidate to wait until the results of the 2023 elections were known.
This article first appeared on Track News.
