The All Progressives Congress (APC) has picked a former welfare secretary of the party, Kabir Masari, as the running mate to its Presidential Candidate, Bola Tinubu, for the 2023 general elections.
Masari, a former member of the APC National Working Committee (NWC) under Adams Oshiomhole as national chairman, hails from President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state of Katsina.
A chieftain of the APC, Kabiru Faskari, disclosed the name Masari as Tinubu running mate on Friday in an interview with Channels Television.
Faskari said, “Ibrahim Kabiru Masari is our vice-presidential nominee. He was the welfare secretary of the APC under Oshiomhole. He is a well-known politician. His name has been submitted,” the APC chieftain said.
“He qualifies as veteran in terms of politics because he joined politics from the onset. He began as a member of the PDP. He is young. He represents the youths and grounded in politics because he was even a national official of the APC and he is quite close with the presidential candidate.
“He has been with him for a very long time. I believe it is a very informed decision to put out his name.”
Meanwhile, according to a statement by Tunde Rahman of the Tinubu campaign office on Friday, the APC presidential candidate has submitted his nomination form to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“As stipulated by the electoral law and Independent National Electoral Commission guidelines and timetable, the standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress, HE Asíwájú Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has returned his duly completed nomination forms to INEC,” the statement reads.
“The forms were returned on Wednesday June 15, two days ahead of schedule.
“We wish to reiterate that HE Asíwájú Tinubu now stands ready to contest the February 25, 2023 presidential election to deliver progressive good governance to our people.”
The development comes amid the June 17 deadline by INEC for political parties to submit the list of their candidates for the 2023 general election.
