The presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, has left Osun State where a governorship election is holding.
The PUNCH gathered that the APC National Leader met with House of Assembly Speakers from the party on Saturday in Abuja.
During the meeting, Tinubu promised the speakers active roles in his campaigns ahead of the 2023 general election.
Speakers at the meeting are Mudashiru Obasa of Lagos State, Olakunke Oluomo of Ogun State, Idris Garba of Jigawa State, Kennedy Ibeh of Imo State, Eteng Williams of Cross River State, Funminiyi Afuye of Ekiti State, and Oleyelogun Bamidele of Ondo State.
Others are Abdulkarim Lawan of Borno, Abdullahi Bawa Wuse of Niger, Ahmed Lawan Mirwa of Yobe, Musa Maigari of Katsina, and Siddi Buba, deputy speaker of Gombe.
Tinubu commended the Speakers for the earlier roles they played ahead of his emergence as the presidential candidate of the party.
He also used the opportunity to explain why he chose a former Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, to be his running mate.
The APC Speakers had visited Tinubu to congratulate him on his victory at the party’s recent special convention where he was elected candidate.
They also pledged to support him ahead of the general election.
While appreciating the Speakers, Tinubu, who noted the tasks ahead of 2023, assured them of roles to play in the campaign.
According to him, Shettima was finally chosen as his running mate after wide consultations and some considerations.
He described Shettima as a patriotic and passionate man with the capacity to serve.
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Tinubu explained that since the APC chairman, Abubakar Adamu, is from the North Central, it was just right to look at another zone, especially the North-East, for his running mate.
He praised the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), for his “magnanimity and understanding on the issue of the selection of Shettima as a running mate”, just as he appealed to Nigerians to “see beyond religion in their quest to strengthen democracy and make Nigeria successful”.
“I am a Muslim married to a Christian, a pastor,” he was quoted as saying in a statement by Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Eromosele Ebhomele.
The presidential aspirant also emphasised his “flexibility to spiritual ideologies”.
