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Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje on Friday said The presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC) Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has agreed to pick a Muslim vice-presidential candidate, Kano state governor and close associate of the former Lagos state governor, Abdullahi Ganduje said on Friday.
Ganduje, who made the disclosure during a gathering of about 100 clerics at the Kano state government house as part of activities to mark Eid El Kabir, said a Muslim-Muslim is a reality.
“We have advised him to pick a Muslim deputy and he has agreed,” Ganduje said.
“A Muslim-Muslim ticket is a reality. It is not something new in Nigeria.”
The Kano state governor urged the clerics to pray for Tinubu to emerge as Nigeria’s president in 2023.
He also urged them to offer prayers for his administration’s peace and progress and for the success of his deputy Yusuf Gawuna, who emerged as the APC governorship candidate in Kano State for 2023 elections.
Tinubu, who emerged as the ruling party’s presidential candidate last month has come under pressure from some political leaders and groups who are opposed to the Muslim-Muslim ticket given the religious composition of the country.
In a bid to beat the INEC deadline for the submission of the name of his running mate, he submitted the name of Kabiru Masari, a Muslim from Katsina, north west Nigeria as the placeholder candidate.
However, a federal high court sitting in Abuja, was during the week asked to stop the All Progressives Congress (APC) from replacing Alhaji Kabiru Masari, as the running mate to Tinubu.
Two chieftains of the party, who were delegates in the APC National Convention, Zakari Maigari and Zubainatu Mohammed, approached the court to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from accepting change of vice-presidential candidate from APC. The plaintiffs joined APC, INEC, Tinubu, and Masari as defendants.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ CS/1059/2022 and dated July 4, 2022, the plaintiffs want the court to determine whether having regard to the combined effect of sections 142(1) and sections 29(1), 31, and 33 of the Electoral Act, it is legally permissible for the fourth defendant to withdraw as the vice-presidential candidate of the first defendant and the running mate of the third defendant so as to be substituted or replaced with another person.
They also want the court to determine whether, in view of the joint ticket provision in section 142(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, the withdrawal of the fourth defendant as the candidate for the office of Vice President does not entail the automatic withdrawal of the third defendant as the candidate for the office of President for purpose of the 2023 general elections.