‘Tinubu has right to pick running mate’ — group berates Zulum over Shettima endorsement

Tinubu Next Level, a support group for President Bola Tinubu, has accused Babagana Zulum, governor of Borno, of instigating the disruption of the All Progressives Congress (APC) north-east stakeholders’ summit in Gombe on Sunday.

The ruling party’s summit descended into chaos after some speakers endorsed Tinubu for a second term without mentioning Shettima.

Delegates, visibly angered by the omission, began shouting and disrupting the meeting, with some issuing threats of violence.

However, in a statement issued on Wednesday and signed by its president, Ango Zubair, the group accused Zulum of masterminding the fracas that disrupted the meeting in Gombe.

The group described Zulum’s insistence on securing a joint endorsement for Shettima alongside Tinubu as “rude” and an “embarrassment” to the party and its leadership.

“We wish to register our utter displeasure to the actions of Governor Babagana Zulum in insisting that the zonal endorsement accorded to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu be extended to Vice President Kashim Shettima,” the statement reads.

“We find such a stance as being rude and orchestrated to embarrass the President and every member of the APC in Nigeria and abroad.

“It is within our rights to endorse the President for re-election, such as it is the right of the President to pick of his running mate in an election.

“Asking the north-east zone of the party to force the President’s hands into appointing Shettima as his running mate is against the principles of democratic politicking in a presidential system of government.”

The group stated that Shettima would not be the first occupant of the office to be excluded from a second-term ticket, nor would he be the last.

It added that the conduct of Zulum and his allies reflected loyalty to Shettima rather than to Tinubu.

“If the President so wishes, he could as well orchestrate an impeachment of Vice President Shettima. But President Tinubu, out of the magnanimity of his heart, has not travelled this route in kicking Shettima out,” the group said.

“If the President has shown decorum in the case of managing the workings of his presidency, the faction led by Zulum has shown a lack of it, and that is very disappointing.”