Nine State governors of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), yesterday held a one-hour closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in his Daura private residence at the end of which they declared their support for Senator Kashim Shettima as the running mate to the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in the 2023 general election.
The Governors also said they had confidence in the combination of Tinubu and Shettima to ensure victory for the party in the presidential election.
The Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum, (PGF), Abubakar Bagudu, told newsmen at the end of the closed-door meeting: “We were pleasantly surprised when the Asiwaju announced in Daura on Sunday that Senator Kashim Ibrahim Shettima was the vice-presidential candidate.
“We were happy that it is no less a person than Senator Shettima who was announced the Vice Presidential candidate. No doubt, Senator Shettima would complement the good qualities of Asiwaju Tinubu. We are very, very happy with the choice. The two will complement each other and will surely consolidate on the achievements of the President in the past seven years”.
Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, also said that Shettima’s choice as the vice-presidential candidate was a collective decision by all the Progressives Governors, adding that all the governors would work hard to ensure victory for the APC in the 2023 elections. Similarly, Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, also said while the choice of the vice-presidential candidate was the prerogative of the presidential candidate, all the APC governors would work to ensure the party’s victory at the 2023 general election.
The nine governors: Aminu Masari (Katsina); Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano); Abubakar Bagudu (Kebbi); Abubakar Bello (Niger); Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa); Hope Uzodimma (Imo); Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti); Simon Lalong (Plateau); and Nasir el-Rufa’i (Kaduna), had earlier held the closed-door meeting with the President.
They were led by the Chairman, PGF, Abubakar Bagudu, of Kebbi State. All of them except Kaduna State governor, Nasir Ahmed el-Rufa’i, had travelled by road from Katsina, where Governor Aminu Masari led them as chief host. The Kaduna State governor later joined them at the meeting.
The meeting lasted almost one hour, after which they and the President retired for lunch. The President later saw them off at 3:05 pm after publicly exchanging banters with them.
