President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday played host to a meeting of stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), at the State House, Abuja.
The delegation which arrived at the meeting, were ushered into the villa by 3.00pm.
Present at the meeting are the Vice Presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 General elections, Kashim Shettima; President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan; Deputy Speaker, Idris Wase; National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu; Chairman of Progressive Governors Forum and Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu; Governors of Borno, Yobe, Nasarawa, Gombe – Babagana Zulum, Mai Mala Buni, Abdullahi Sule and Yahaya Inuwa, respectively.
Also present are the APC Deputy National Chairman South, Emma Enuku; Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Idris Wada; former Speaker of House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, among others.
However, the presidential candidate of the party for the 2023 general elections, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was conspicuously absent at the meeting.
Buhari had met Shettima on Wednesday shortly after he was unveiled as Tinubu’s substantive running mate at Yar’Adua center.
The former Borno State Governor had on Wednesday told State House Correspondents that he “felt morally bound” to thank the president personally, before returning with a larger delegation on Friday.
On the condemnation that had trailed the Muslim-Muslim ticket floated by his party, Shettima had 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 N1 billion 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.
