President, Muhammadu Buhari played host to a delegation of the All Progressives Congress, APC Stakeholders at the State House, Abuja. on Friday.
The delegation had in attendance Senate President Ahmed Lawan, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Idris Wase, the APC Vice Presidential candidate, Kashim Shettima, and other key members of the party.
Others present were former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, former Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbe and former Chief of Air Staff Air Marshall Sadiq Abubakar.
Also in attendance were some members of the Progressives Governors Forum. They included Babagana Zulum of Borno, Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe, Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa and Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi.
A former governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff and Senator representing Taraba South Senatorial District, Emmanuel Bwacha were also in attendance.
However, the party’s flagbearer, Bola Tinubu, was not present at the time of this report.
The visit comes about two days after Shettima was unveiled as Tinubu’s substantive running mate.
The former Borno State Governor who was at the Villa to see Buhari on Wednesday told journalists that he “felt morally bound” to thank the president personally, before returning with a larger delegation on Friday.
Reacting to agitations over the Muslim-Muslim ticket floated by his party, he said the APC ticket is not designed to protect the interests of one faith as there are religious leaders to do that.
“In Borno, we spent over N1bn naira rebuilding churches destroyed by the Boko Haram insurgency. And this legacy has been continued by Governor Babagana Zulum. We have taken more Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem than some of the Northern States headed by Christians.
“So, we have that history of inclusivity, of togetherness. What we need is competent leadership. We are not coming into government to represent the Muslim or the Christian faith. The Sultan of Sokoto is eminently qualified to protect Muslim interests and the CAN president is eminently qualified to defend Christian interests as well,” he said.
Details later…….
Editor Paul Akhagbemhe
