Tinubu: Shettima is the best running mate I could find

Presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, says Kashim Shettima is the best choice as his running mate.

The former Lagos State governor said this on Wednesday while meeting the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Abuja.

Recall that Tinubu’s announcement of Shettima as his running mate in July generated criticism and condemnation from different quarters including CAN.

Also read: Tinubu: My choice of Shettima reflects my belief in Nigeria’s diversity

However, in a statement released by Tinubu’s media aide, Tunde Rahman, maintained that he choose Senator Kashim Shettima as his running mate because he is the best hand that can help his administration.

“I offer a confession. I selected Senator Shettima thinking more about who would best help me govern. Picking a Christian running mate would have been politically easier. But the easy way is rarely the right one. The selection of a running mate is at once a very momentous yet very intimate decision,” Tinubu said.

“I did not choose Senator Shettima so that we could form a same-faith ticket. The ticket was constructed as the same progressive and people-based ideology ticket,”

“Resting such a key decision on religious affiliation as the primary weight did not sit well with me. I am not saying there were not good and adequate potential running mates of the Christian faith.

“What I am saying is that the times we inhabit do not lend themselves to the good or adequate. We have urgent problems that lend themselves not to a Christian or Muslim solution. We need the best solution.

“Every time I thought about it, and I did think a lot; I came to the same conclusion: Kashim Shettima.”

Also in the meeting, The Christian Association of Nigeria led by its president, Daniel Ukoh, presented a charter of demands to Tinubu.
In the charter, CAN demanded state police or a decentralised policing system, devolution of power to states, equal rights for all religions and their adherents, and right to self-determination by all ethnic groups.

CAN’s demands also included right to control natural resources by communities that bear them, no to open grazing, and equitable electoral system that guarantees the right to vote and be voted for by all.