Running Mate: Worry About Good Governance, Unity, Not Religious, Ethnic Sentiments – Gov Uzodinma

As the deadline by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for presidential candidates to produce their running mate almost elapses, President Muhammadu Buhari has held a closed-door meeting with the All Progressives Governors Forum at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The APC governors were led to the meeting by the Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State, before they left for Ekiti State to participate in the final campaigns preceding the gubernatorial election.

Recall that while the APC has produced former Lagos State Governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as its presidential flagbearer in the 2023 general elections, the search for a running mate has been a thorn in the neck of the party.

There are insinuations in political quarters that Tinubu is mulling fielding a fellow Muslim as his running mate, a development that has been strongly condemned by the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, and other stakeholders.

Among those who attended the meeting include Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha; Governors Babagana Zulum of Borno, Nasir El-Rufai, (Kaduna), Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, (Jigawa), Abdullahi Sule, Nasarawa, Simon Lalong (Plateau), Yahaya Bello (Kogi) and Hope Uzodinma of Imo State.

But in a personal reaction to the running mate quagmire, Uzodinma said such insinuations were baseless, especially when the choice of a running mate was not elective but that of the flagbearer.

He said there is nowhere in the Nigerian Constitution where religion was a factor in who becomes running mate to a President.

“There is no where in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria where religion is a factor or characteristics as to who becomes the President or who becomes the running mate,” he noted.

He said rather what should be the concern of Nigerians should be how to foster a united Nigeria, where governance will be the issue, where a President would be adjudged by his capacity to deliver democratic dividends, develop Nigeria to look like other parts of the Western world where democracy is working.

He said, “I don’t want us to reduce governance in Nigeria to certain things that will encourage divisiveness, rather, we should be a united Nigeria, be our brother’s keepers, have a president of Nigeria that will be a president representing, every tribe, every religion, every denomination. And when we get there, we will cross the bridge, the decision also to choose a running mate does not reside with any of us the governors.

“It is the presidential candidate that will look at the local characteristics and every factors, political and apolitical that will make him win his election and take the decision. So it’s not a decision that we will sit here and take for the candidate”.

Also commenting on whether the APC would want to see a governor emerging as running mate to Bola Ahamed Tinubu, he responded saying, “why not? Ahmed Tinubu, have you forgotten he was a governor for eight years? If he chooses a governor so be it, we will support him. Now we are no longer talking about who becomes running mate and who is not running mate. I have told you whose decision it is.

“The next thing as party leaders now and opinion leaders, is for us to rise up mobilize the quality and get members of our party commit into a successful election by 2023. So that our president that is leaving will also be handing over to our own president of APC, that is our preoccupation now how to win the election”.