Those Criticizing Me Wanted To Be My Running Mate – Tinubu

Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, has accused those criticizing his choice of Senator Kashim Shettima as his running mate of lobbying him for the vice-presidential position.

Speaking during an interactive session with the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Abuja, led by Archbishop Daniel Ukoh, Tinubu said his close friends had indicated an interest in becoming his running mate but he had bluntly turned them down.

The APC presidential candidate dismissed the claims in some quarters that he planned to Islamise Nigeria with his choice of Shettima as the Vice-Presidential candidate.

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He said that such an accusation was untrue and unfortunate, adding that he did not have any agenda to suppress the Christian community.

In his word

“People have reacted harshly to my selection. They are because they are my friends, they lobbied me and wanted to be my running mate but I bluntly rejected them. The rumor that this is some plot to suppress the Christian community is untrue and unfortunate. I don’t have that kind of agenda. The bucks stop on my table, not on the vice- president’s table unless so delegated. He cannot even forgive convicted inmates if I don’t delegate the power to him. What is the vice president?

‘’I can no more suppress the Christians of this nation than I can suppress the Christians in my own household, my very family. I dare not contest the presidential position in my house because I will lose, they are all Christians. If I did not Islamise my family, I cannot Islamise Nigeria. It is awful to hear such allegations. We cannot make progress if we continue to follow that path in the country. Religions will not help us. It won’t do any good to us.“