The Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma has said the South East was more interested in producing the next president of Nigeria than angling to be a candidate’s running mate.
Uzodinma stated this on Tuesday, while speaking to State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja
The Governor, however, said the choice of the running mate would be decided by APC presidential ticket, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and not governors.
Fielding a question on Muslim-Muslim tickets and the choice of a running mate, he said: “There are internal characteristics that the decision-maker may consider in the process of making his decision. The decision whether to choose Mr A or Mr B to be a running mate to a candidate is entirely that of the candidate.
“You started by saying the governors of the South-East are complaining of not having the opportunity of being a running mate anymore. But that is not the sole ambition of Southeasterners, let alone the governors. In the business of presidential primaries, there is no election for a vice-presidential candidate. The business there is just to elect a candidate.
“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 public. It is the decision of the candidate. The first thing to do is to let the candidate. Now 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 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 denomination, ethnicity, or followership. In this business of democracy, I think the number is what is very important. And there are certain things as a nation, we should not bring to the public discourse.