THOSE CRITICISING ME WANTED TO BE MY RUNNING MATE - TINUBU

Bola Ahmed Tinubu

The All Progressives Congress's Bola Tinubu, who is standing for president, has accused people who have criticized his selection of Senator Kashim Shettima as his running mate of also trying to get him to run for vice president.

According to reports, Babachir Lawal, a former secretary to the Government of the Federation and close ally of Tinubu, called the idea to run a Muslim-Muslim ticket "a fatal miscalculation."

Yakubu Dogara, a former House of Representatives speaker who rejected the plan, urged Nigerian Christians not to waste their votes in the 2023 election by supporting the APC candidate.

Speaking in an interactive session with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) leadership in Abuja, presided over by Archbishop Daniel Ukoh, Tinubu said that several of his close friends expressed interest in serving as his running mates but that he flatly declined.

The vice presidential candidate for the APC, Shettima, denied allegations made in some quarters that he intended to islamize Nigeria by his selection of Shettima.

He said, "People have reacted harshly to my selection. They are because they are my friends, they lobbied me and wanted to be my running mate but bluntly rejected them. The rumour that this is some plot to suppress the Christian community is untrue and unfortunate. don't have that kind of agenda. The bucks stop on my table, not on the vice-president's table unless so delegated. He cannot even forgive convicted inmates if don't delegate the power to him. What is the vice-president?

"I can no more suppress the Christians of this nation than I can suppress the Christians in my own household, my very family. I dare not contest the presidential position in my house because I will lose, they are all Christians. If did not Islamise my family, I cannot Islamise Nigeria. It is awful to hear such allegations. We cannot make progress if we continue to follow that path in the country. Religions will not help us. It won't do any good to us."

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