Tinubu: No VP candidate yet, submits surrogate Masari to beat INEC deadline

ln a bid to beat the June 17 deadline of INEC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the presidential flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress has submitted his completed nomination forms to the  Commission with the inclusion of a “surrogate”vice-presidential candidate.

The APC candidate for the 2023 polls on Wednesday, June 15 signed and personally returned the forms two days ahead of schedule deadline as stipulated by the electoral law and INEC guidelines and timetable, a statement obtained by Persecondnews said.

Tinubu had defeated former Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, Vice- President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) and 12 others to clinch the APC ticket at the party’s special convention held in June in Abuja.

“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,” Tinubu’s spokesman, Tunde Rahman, said on Friday.

On the identity of Tinubu’s running mate, Rahman said he was not competent to speak on the matter, assuring that the name of the Vice-Presidential candidate will be officially ‘announced later’.

“Asiwaju completed the forms and signed. He had to return it himself. His running mate will be announced later.”

A credible party source confirmed that he has submitted the name of a “place holder” to INEC while APC Northern Governors and the leadership of the party will continue the search for a “formidable” VP candidate to run with Tinubu.

He identified the surrogate as a chieftain of the APC in Katsina State, Alhaji Ibrahim Kabiru Masari.

“Masari is a serving board member of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru, Plateau State.

” His name was statutorily allowed in lieu of the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act. He would be substituted later after an agreement has been reached on Tinubu’s running mate,” he said.

According to him,  the party still has a month window to make the necessary changes if it wants to.

The Director of Tinubu Campaign Organisation and former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr Bayo Onanuga, also confirmed l that Masari’s name had been submitted to INEC to “hold forth.”