A former Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Farouk Aliyu has explained the reason why the ruling All Progressives Congress, presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has not picked a running mate yet.
Aliyu said the delay in finding a vice presidential candidate for the former Lagos State Governor and his political party is due to the complexity of the country.
He, however, maintained that the search for Tinubu’s running mate is about competency and not religion, adding that within a short period of time, the VP choice will be made public.
The former lawmaker stated this while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
He said the party may end up presenting to Nigerians a Muslim-Muslim ticket or a Muslim-Christian ticket, but insisted that the most important thing is that the person will be generally accepted by all.
“The choice of the Vice presidential candidate of our party lies on the candidate and the party’s stakeholders and we’re still consulting and I assure you we’re going to come up with a candidate who will foot the bill, who’ll be acceptable to all Nigerians.”
“And I also assure that by the time the name is out, everybody will believe and be convinced that we made the right choice.
“So just give us a little time and we’ll come out with it soon. It is not difficult for Tinubu to pick a running mate but just the complexity of the country.
“You understand that many people are talking about Muslim-Muslim, Christian-Christian ticket forgetting that no matter the diversity in the country one must win election. We’re consulting.
“We’re looking at Muslim-Muslim ticket and we’re also looking at Muslim-Christian ticket. Are the Muslims in this country better off with Buhari as President?
“So, if our candidate comes out with Muslim candidate, so be it and if the party or the candidate comes out with a Christian candidate, we’ll also make sure we win the election. So like I said, it’s not about religion or where you come from but competence.”