By Marvellous Nyang
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has named Kabiru Masari as his running mate for the 2023 elections, a party chieftain, Kabiru Faskari, has said.
Faskari disclosed this on Friday, during an interview on Channels TV’s political documentary programme, “Politics Today.”
He said: “Ibrahim Kabiru Masari is our Vice Presidential nominee. He was the Welfare Secretary of the APC under Oshiomhole (former national chairman of the party). He is a well-known politician in Kaduna State and his name has been submitted.
Explaining further, Faskari said that picking Kabiru, an indigene of Katsina State, “does not violate the country’s laws as against the clamour for a Muslim/Christian APC ticket.”
As he said, Kabiru is experienced, close to Tinubu, and will not have a problem working with the former Lagos State governor.
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“He is young; he represents the youths and is grounded in politics and was even a national official of the APC. He is quite close to the presidential candidate and has been with him for a very long time. It is a very informed decision to put out his name,” Faskari said.
According to him, the decision to select Masari followed wide consultations and that the party needs a person from a region with a large voting population.
“I think it was the decision of the presidential candidate after due diligence,” Faskari said.
Meanwhile, it is being speculated that the APC is putting Masari’s name forward as a “placeholder” to beat the June 17 deadline set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for presidential candidates to submit the names of their running mates.
