Ahead of the 2023 presidential election, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abubakar Girei, says only a ticket of Vice President Yemi Osibanjo and Governor Babagana Zulum will guarantee victory for the ruling party.
According to Girei, if the APC will zone the presidential slot to the south, it will be proper to consider giving the ticket to the serving vice president, to consolidate on the successes of President Muhammadu Buhari, and Zulum, the governor of Borno State, as his running mate.
The APC chief, who spoke to journalists in Kaduna on national issues, also called on the leadership of the party to avoid any costly mistake in picking its presidential candidate and running mate.
“Somebody who, by right and constitutionally, should fly the flag of APC come 2023 is the Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, and he is from South West. Who else is better than him? But, as I said, it is not yet time for that. Even the South West we are talking about, it is not that they are the most deserving zone in this country. The most deserving, as far as I am concerned, is the North East, followed by the South East.
“The North East has never produced the president of this country. So, ideally, they should be the one we should be talking about to produce the next president, but because of this gentleman agreement and understanding, we said the South West played very prominent role in midwifing APC and has given 100 per cent support to the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as President.
“Therefore, morally, we are duty bound to have someone from the South West as the next president. Whoever comes out to be the flag bearer of APC from South West, I think he should naturally pick someone from North East as his running mate. We have so many of them in the North East but you will agree with me that we have one governor that has now distinguished himself as the best governor in the country, that is Prof. Babagana Zulum of Borno State, the best performing governor in the country today.
“If somebody like Prof. Osinbajo can pair up with Prof. Zulum, I have no doubt in my mind that we will win the election hands down,” Girei said.
