EXCLUSIVE: Tinubu Picks Buhari’s Kinsman, Masari As ‘Tentative’ Vice President

Prime Business Africa  reports that the Presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has just picked Alhaji Kabir Ibrahim Masari from Katsina as his vice presidential candidate in the 2023 elections.

It was gathered that the action  by  Tinubu and the APC is a move to meet the statutory requirement and beat the Friday June 17, 2022 deadline  given by the electoral umpire the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for presidential candidates to submit names of their deputies to the body.

Masari is of the Malumfashi/Kafur Constituency in Katsina State, the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The vice presidential slot given to Masari,  according to sources close to Tinubu and President Buhari is a  ‘holding ticket,’ as both Tinubu and his friends in the APC are still consulting widely for a suitable deputy.

Prime Business Africa gathered that Masari’s name would be changed for another northern politician in a month’s time. This means that Masari would be holding the ticket in trust for another candidate to be announced by Tinubu in one month’s time as Tinubu and the APC navigate through the challenges of choosing his deputy amid ticking deadline.

The decision comes as Nigerians debate the suitability, or otherwise,  of the ruling party running with a  Muslim Muslim ticket even  as ethnicity and religion become two big issues in the politics of the Nigerian presidency in 2023.

Tinubu from Southwest Nigeria had won the APC  presidential ticket after a spirited fight, following the horsetrading that sawuth initial announcement of Ahmed Lawan, the President of the Senate,  as Buhari’s choice. The move was stoutly resisted by the members of the National Working Committee (NWC)  of the APC led by the National Organising Secretary Sulaiman Muhammad Argungu and seven others, alongside the National Secretary  Iyiola Omisore and   Deputy  National Chairman (North), Abu Kyari.

The resistance aligned with the Progressive Governors Forum to insist on upholding the party’s original  stance on zoning  its 2023 presidential slot to Southern Nigeria in view of the fact that President Buhari’s North will be rounding off its two terms of eight years in the presidency.

Recall that main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had already elected Alhaji Atiku Abubakar during its convention days before the APC’s primary election at the Eagle Square Abuja. Meanwhile, Mr Peter Obi,  former governor in Anambra State in  Southeast Nigeria who left  the PDP for the Labour Party  (LP) also emerged presidential candidate of the LP now seen by Nigerians as the Third Force in the 2023 political equation.