2023: APC North-East Tackles North-West, Wants Tinubu’s Running Mate From North Central
Adedokun Waliyu 
Stakeholders from the North-East zone of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are set for a showdown with their counterparts from the North-West over the slot for the running mate of the party’s presidential candidate for 2023 election.
The APC National Working Committee (NWC) has since sent the name of Kabiru Masari as running mate to the presidential candidate, Senator Bola Tinubu, amidst speculation that the party would soon substitute him before the deadline stipulated by the provisions of the Electoral Act.
Tinubu, at a function last week, had said he was still consulting over his running mate. Masari is incidentally from Katsina, in the North-West as the incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari.
The zone, last week, said that it would seek audience with Senator Tinubu and present its demand for the running mate slot.
But at the weekend in Abuja, APC stakeholders from North-East, at the end of a meeting, said for fairness, equity and justice, the slot of running mate for Tinubu should be conceded to it.
Addressing newsmen after the meeting, national coordinator of North-East APC Stakeholders’ Coalition, Alhaji Abba Aji Suleiman, described the stance of NorthWest to produce the running mate to Tinubu as “not only misplaced, but a gross display of insensitivity to the relevance of other regions in the scheme of things in the party.”
The North-East stakeholders argued that, “the NorthWest had been within the corridor of power in the last seven years of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, and for such demand to be made indeed speak volume of gross insensitivity.
“It is the considered view of stakeholders in the NorthEast that it would only be fair and just if the running mate slot goes to the NorthCentral, given the numerous contributions of the region to the growth and development of the party
