The Special Adviser to the president on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga has confirmed that President Bola Tinubu will choose his 2027 running mate after the next convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He recently had his say amid reports that BAT is set to drop Kashim Shettima as his running mate for the 2027 election.
Speaking during an interview with Daily Trust, Bayo revealed that speakers at the recent APC stakeholders summit endorsing President Tinubu for a second term without mentioning Shettima did not deserve a reaction because it was a non-issue.
He stated that it is common knowledge that in a presidential system of government, the presidential candidate has to be nominated before a running mate is chosen.
According to him, it is impossible to have both a presidential candidate and his running mate chosen at once, and even Muhammadu Buhari was nominated as the presidential candidate before he revealed who he wanted to run with.
“That’s what happened under Buhari; he was nominated first and later picked his running mate. You don’t do both at once.
Once INEC releases the timetable, the party convention will hold, and if the president is nominated again, he will choose his running mate,” he said.
He further rubbished the speculation of a rift between President Tinubu and Shettima, referring to it as a beer parlour gist that should not be taken seriously.
The spokesman insisted that many more absurd rumours have circulated in recent times, including reports that said Seyi Tinubu would be the next vice president.
“I’m not aware of any issues between the president and the vice president. From what I know, they have an excellent working relationship. All the speculation is just beer parlour gossip.
People even say ridiculous things like Seyi Tinubu is the vice president. Absolute nonsense.
In this country, deputy roles, whether deputy governor or vice president, are always surrounded by rumours. Even when there’s no conflict, people around them will concoct stories. But as far as I know, Tinubu and Shettima work together very well,” Bayo said.
Onanuga maintained that Tinubu having issues with his deputies when he was Lagos State Governor has nothing to do with the present reality.
He concluded by saying that it is definitely wrong for anyone to conclude that the president has a pattern of discarding deputies.
“That’s just speculation. Yes, when he was governor, there were issues. In his first term, he and his deputy, Kofo, didn’t get along, and she had to leave.
Femi Pedro replaced her. In the second term, he retained Pedro, but Pedro later defected — he wanted to be governor. That’s why he had to go. I don’t want to reopen old wounds, but that’s what happened.
So, it’s wrong to say he has a pattern of discarding deputies. There were specific political circumstances each time. That’s what I’m explaining,” he added.
