Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential candidate, has yet to give President Muhammadu Buhari with his preferred running mate choices for consideration and ratification.
Tinubu presented Kabiru Masari’s name as a placeholder until a substantive Vice Presidential candidate is announced.
Tinubu has yet to submit a list of his chosen individuals to the President for approval, according to an APC source, because he is awaiting the results of a poll he commissioned on his best choice of running mate.
He revealed that the poll was commissioned by the APC Presidential candidate in order to take a more clinical and scientific approach to selecting a running mate.
Tinubu’s decision of running partner has been postponed, according to the source, to allow for more deliberation on the best winning strategy while also taking into account the country’s cultural and religious diversity.
The APC leader added that it was customary for Tinubu to offer the party a list of his preferred nominees, and that the President must also support the choice.
According to the source, Tinubu was attempting to pacify the President by bringing up the running mate problem in order to gain his support, which had previously been withheld.
He said: “If I know Tinubu very well and this is not saying he had discussed this with me, he had commissioned a poll on this matter and awaiting the result. The Tinubu that I know does not take a major political decision or risk without first weighing his options and he does this by conducting a poll that will guide him and set a clear path to follow.
“However, it does not mean he could not ignore the poll in some instances, but he would like to throw his cards open and on the table first, from which he would decide which way to go. So, the delay you are seeing is most probably, because the poll result is not out yet and he wants to be guided near-accurately by it.
“No one knows yet when he would give the name of a substantive running mate or submit those shortlisted to the president. If it is true he is waiting on a poll, we don’t know when the result would be ready. But all we can say is that, soon, this phase will be over for the campaign to take centre stage.
“As you also know, the president has not really been supportive of Tinubu’s ambition. By allowing him to pick his running, he is hoping to force the president’s hand to fully back his presidential quest.”
Buhari has also expressed his concern to Tinubu about the hazards of a Muslim-Muslim ticket, noting that the country’s current political context does not support the concept.
He said, “It’s not true the president has stayed away from the matter of the party’s running mate. It was a different thing in 2015, when there was no president or ruling party. Now, all that the president is doing is waiting for him (Tinubu) to present his short list of candidates.”
