By James Orji
Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno state is one of the favourites of the three Vice Presidential nominees for All Progressives Congress, APC Presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, according to Daily Trust.
The other two nominees are Kashim Ibrahim-Imam, a former aide to President Olusegun Obasanjo on National Assembly and Amina Mohammed, a former Minister under both former President Goodluck Jonathan and President Muhammadu Buhari. She us currently the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, UN. The three of them are Muslims.
Tinubu, a Muslim, a former Governor of Lagos state recently beat his closest rivals to emerge the ruling party’s flagbearer, at the APC Special National Convention in Abuja.
Since he won, efforts are been made by the leadership of the party to select a running mate for him, to beat the June 17 deadline set by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC for political parties to submit the names of their Vice Presidential nominees.
On Monday, Governors elected on the platform of the party met with President Muhammadu Buhari over the issue. Even though it was not clear whether they have agreed on a candidate to run with Tinubu in next year’s Presidential election or not.
Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo state had told reporters after the meeting that the party will not impose any running mate on Tinubu, who he said is free to pick the party’s presidential candidate.
He had, also, earlier said there is nothing wrong with a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
Daily Trust, however, quoted sources in the ruling party as saying that a chieftain of the party and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF Babagana Kingibe has suggested the three names to Tinubu for consideration.
Recall that Kingibe, the Vice-Presidential candidate to the late Chief MKO Abiola in the botched June 12, 1993, Presidential election, was visited by the APC Presidential candidate, last week as part of his fence mending consultations with major party stakeholders across the country.
The magazine has yet to confirm whether Tinubu has agreed to pick any of the three nominees, but it was learnt that other strong politicians, particularly APC Governors are lobbying seriously for the exalted post as well.
Other sources in the party also mentioned that the situation is causing serious confusion in the party, particularly following apprehension that the ruling party could present a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket to INEC by the end of the week to beat the deadline set by the electoral umpire.
Many Nigerians have warned the party against a Muslim-Muslim ticket because of the religious plurality of the country.
Doing so, critics say, will further enlarge the gulf of religious differences, and probably set the country on a fresh religious crisis.
For instance, a chieftain of the party and former SGF, Babachir Lawal had warned his party to jettison any attempt to select a Muslim running mate for Tinubu.
Lawal, a close ally of Tinubu said a Muslim-Muslim ticket will further polarize the country along religious lines.
Lwal said, “I don’t think the choice of a running mate for the APC presidential candidate should be a problem because the constitution is clear about the principle of federal character that no group should dominate because such will not promote unity.
“So, for fairness and justice, since Sen. Bola Tinubu, the Presidential candidate of APC is a Muslim from the Southern part, he should pick a Christian from the Northern part of the country as his running mate.
”A Muslim-Muslim ticket will not augur well for the unity of the country because the Christians in the Northern part may feel marginalised and it is also not good for our democracy.”
