A coalition of stakeholders under the auspices of the North-Central Renaissance Movement (NCRM), has called on President Bola Tinubu to drop Vice President Kashim Shettima as his running mate for the 2027 presidential election.
The NCRM which made the call after a meeting held in Abuja on Saturday, urged Tinubu to choose his running mate from their zone if he wants their support for his re-election.
The meeting had in attendance former National Security Adviser, Gen. Aliyu Gusau (retd), the Onah of Abaji, His Royal Highness, Musa Yunusa, a former lawmaker, Senator John Danboyi, and other top politicians and leaders of thought from Benue, Kwara, Kogi, Plateau, Niger, Nasarawa States and the Federal Capital Territory which make up the North Central region.
The call by the NCRM is coming two days after hundreds of stakeholders and leaders from the region announced at a press conference that they had agreed to work together to produce the next president after 65 years of what they termed marginalisation against the region, but however, gave President Tinubu a condition to back his re-election if he agreed to drop Shettima for one of their own as his running mate ahead of the next poll.
In a communique issued at the end of the meeting signed by the Chairman NCRM, Prof Nghargbu K’tso, the group insisted that the only condition to support Tinubu in 2027 was for him to drop Shettima and choose his running mate from the region.
“We are strengthening advocacy for the return of presidency to the zone come 2027 through high-level consultations with prominent figures in all the six geo-political zones,” the communique read in part.
“The North Central is strengthening advocacy for the return of presidency to the zone come 2027 through high-level consultations with prominent figures in the geo-political zone and Nigeria at large.
“We appeal for the cooperation of Nigerians to make the agitation a reality and put the region in the equation of other zones who have enjoyed the constitutional right of producing president and vice president in Nigeria as the zone has what it takes to lead rather than to be led all the times.
“The zone has what it takes to lead rather than to be led all the times, and the future should begin with the 2027 federal political arrangement,” it added.
© Ripples Nigeria
