Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has revealed that he met with Bola Tinubu in London shortly before the announcement of his running mate, where he made strong recommendations on who should not be chosen as Vice President.
Speaking in an interview with Channels TV, Lawal said he personally delivered the committee’s strategic report to Tinubu in London after the APC presidential primaries and held an extensive discussion on both the vice-presidential slot and the campaign’s Director-General position. “I discussed extensively about VP and who should be DG campaign,” he recalled, adding that some of the names Tinubu was considering were already being mentioned in public.
During that Thursday night meeting, Lawal said he firmly disqualified some of the names Tinubu preferred, giving clear reasons, including how President Muhammadu Buhari might react. “It would be uncharitable to pick Buhari’s enemy as VP,” he said, noting that he knew the types of individuals the president would or wouldn’t be comfortable with.
But two days later, Lawal said he received news from Daura that Tinubu had announced Kashim Shettima as his running mate. “It was in line with what I had recommended,” he admitted, but expressed disappointment at how it was handled. “He didn’t even think he should tell me—after all this from the beginning,” he said.
Lawal added that he would have respected a direct conversation. “I expected that he would say, ‘SGF, I’m sorry’, maybe we’ll fight, maybe it would even be physical,’” he remarked.
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