•Shettima and Tinubu
President Bola Tinubu has been advised to, as a matter of necessity, pick the Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin as his presidential running mate in the 2027 general elections in place of current Vice President Kashim Shettima.
The call, made by a group, Northern Nigeria’s Progressive Youths Assembly, comes in the midst of agitations surrounding the Office of the Vice President in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) following insinuating comments that the incumbent, Kashim Shettima may be dropped, reports Nigerian Tribune.
“It won’t be seen as an impetuous decision, if the incumbent President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, H.E Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu picks Senator Barau Jibrin as his vice presidential running mate in the forthcoming presidential election, 2027.
“Because, picking a marketable person as running mate, is inarguably one of the best political permutations that any politician aspiring for any executive office should do.
“And, we are convinced about it that, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu won’t hesitate to do the right calculation as an astute and well-groomed grassroot politician, to handpick Senator Barau Jibrin as his vice presidential running mate in the forthcoming elections,” it stated.
The group tried to set the record straight, stating that in spite of Kano State being the home state of the NNPP’s presidential candidate in the 2023 General elections, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, the APC scored 517,341 votes which was almost double what polled in Borno State where the running mate, then was picked from.
“Lest it slips our memories, it was as a result of Senator Barau’s pervasive influence, that APC got the votes it garnered in virtually all three elections simply because, of all the people who ran for House of Representatives in Barau’s Kano North Senatorial District, only one lost to the opposition party.
“At this critical time when the political waters are getting murkier, President Tinubu needs to be very calculative and careful how he goes about picking his running mate in the forthcoming presidential election so that he doesn’t pick the wrong person.”
“Having received a good home training, Senator Barau had never ever cast aspersion on any leader, past and present in this country, because, he strongly believes that no human being should be subjected to any form of humiliation/degradation irrespective of his or her age, gender and social status.
“Moreover, the number of votes scored by the two most powerful and popular contenders in last Nigeria’s presidential election is an indication that the people of the North-East geopolitical zone favoured the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar over President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, going by the number of votes scored by the two from each state in the North-East as recorded in the archive of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).”
It stated that in Borno State, President Tinubu scored 252,282 votes while Atiku Abubakar got 190,92 votes, a wafer-thin margin of 62,000 votes only. In Yobe State, Atiku Abubakar polled 198,567 votes, while Tinubu got 151,459 votes; in Bauchi State, Atiku Abubakar scored a total of 426,607 votes to defeat his closest contender, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who got 316,694 votes.
In Gombe State, Atiku Abubakar polled 319,123 votes to defeat President Tinubu who scored 146,977 votes, in Taraba State, Atiku Abubakar scored 189,017 votes ahead of Peter Obi of the Labour Party who polled 146,315 votes and President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress came third with 135,165 votes while in Adamawa State, the PDP candidate polled a total of 417,611 votes as against Tinubu’s 182,88, a wide gap of 399,323 votes.
According to the group, the results from each of the six northeastern states should be an impetus for President Tinubu to put on his thinking cap as the country is fast inching towards the 2027 general elections.
It opined that, although it is being noised abroad some people working closely with Mr. President are he’ll-bent, planning to force either Senator Rabi’u Kwankwaso or Nuhu Ribadu on him.
