Presidential Candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, says he has submitted his running mate’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission for the purpose of the 2023 presidential election.
Tinubu disclosed this in a statement on Friday, but he did not reveal the identity of his running mate, stressing that he had already submitted “duly completed nomination forms to INEC.”
The nomination forms cannot be completed without the name of the running mate of any presidential candidate.
There were reports on Thursday that the APC presidential flagbearer had picked a Katsina politician, Alhaji Kabir Ibrahim Masari, as a placeholder for his running mate in order to beat INEC deadline.
Masari, who was National Welfare Secretary of the APC under the Adams Oshiomhole- led NWC, was said to have been nominated pending the conclusion of ongoing consultations by various APC camps over who Tinubu should nominate as his running of mate.
It was learnt that Masari was nominated as “a dummy running mate” and would eventually withdraw from the race in line with Section 31 of the Electoral ACT.
It was further gathered that an agreement had been reached concerning the matter.
Tinubu in the statement by his media office on Friday, said, “As stipulated by the Electoral law and the Independent National Electoral Commission guidelines and timetable, the standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress, HE Asíwájú Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has returned his duly completed nomination nomination forms to INEC. The forms were returned on Wednesday June 15, two days ahead of schedule.
“We wish to reiterate that HE Asíwájú Tinubu stands ready to contest the February 25, 2023 presidential election to deliver progressive good governance to our people.”
