Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo state has waded into the ongoing conversation about a Muslim-Muslim ticket in the presidential election.
Uzodinma who briefed journalists at the presidential villa today June 14, said “spread is very important to be able to attract votes” and it is also the responsibility of the candidate to chose his running mate.
He said;
“In that ballot paper there is no room for delegates to vote for who will be your running mate. So that explains why it is not a decision for the people. It is a decision for the candidate. The first thing to do is to let the candidate, now that a candidate has emerged.
“Now the candidate will factor into consideration some ideas and issues like how to create a spread. Spread is very important to be able to attract votes. So the decision of who becomes your running mate, if I were the candidate, what will inform it is what will I do as an action that will enable me to get the kind of votes I’m looking for because the ultimate goal is to win the election.
“So maybe I’ll start from the nomination, ethnicity, or followership. In this business of democracy I think number is what is very important. And there are certain things as a nation, we should not bring to the public discuss, those things that are capable of creating divisiveness against national unity should not be encouraged. It does not mean that I will not remember that I come from a place but I must also be cautious and careful how to use where I come from in taking national decisions. That is very important.”
On choice of APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu’s running mate, Uzodinma said;
“We are looking for united Nigeria, where governance will be the issue, where a president would be adjudged by his capacity to deliver democratic dividends, develop Nigeria to look like other parts of the western world where democracy is working.
“I don’t want us to reduce governance in Nigeria to certain things that will encourage divisiveness, rather, we should be a united Nigeria, be our brother’s keepers, have a president of Nigeria that will be a president representing every tribe, every religion, every denomination. And when we get there, we will cross the bridge.”
When asked if he would like to see a governor as a running mate to Tinubu, he said;
“Why not? Ahmed Tinubu, have you forgotten he was a governor for eight years? If he chooses a governor so be it, we will support it. For now, we are no longer talking about who becomes running mate and who is not running mate. I have told you whose decision it is. The next thing as party leaders now and opinion leaders, is for us to rise up, mobilize the quality and get members of our party to commit to a successful election by 2023. So that our president that is leaving will also be handing over to our own president of APC, that is our preoccupation now how to win the election.”
