Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma has said that the decision to pick an All Progressives Congress 2023 presidential running mate lies with the presidential candidate of the party, Bola Tinubu, and not with the governors of the party.
Uzodinma stated this on Thursday while briefing reporters in Abuja after visiting President Muhammadu Buhari.
Uzodimma was the Chairman of the APC special convention held on June 8, where Tinubu emerged as the party’s presidential candidate
He told reporters, “The decision to choose a running mate does not reside with any of us, the governors. It is the presidential candidate that will look at the local characteristics and every factor that will make him win the election.
“There is nowhere in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria where religion is a factor as to who becomes the president or running mate.
“We are looking for a united Nigeria where governance will be the issue, a president will be judged by his capacity to deliver democratic dividends.”
Noting that the South-East is ripe to produce Nigeria’s next President for the sake of equity and justice, Uzodinma said he would still work with Tinubu, not minding that the South-East was denied the right to produce the nation’s next leader.
He, meanwhile, said that what is most fundamental is the aim for a united Nigeria where democratic governance is upheld, adding that the South-East zone will work on what has so far prevented it from attaining the goal of producing a president of the country.
President Buhari had earlier met with APC governors from Borno, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kebbi, Imo, Nasarawa, Kogi and Plateau states.
