The Presidency has clarified that President Bola Tinubu will select his running mate for the 2027 presidential election only after formally accepting the All Progressives Congress (APC) nomination during its convention in 2026.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, disclosed this in a recent interview with Daily Trust.
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“When I read the report, I dismissed it as a nonissue. In a presidential system, the candidate emerges and selects a running mate.
“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 explained.
As the 2027 presidential election draws near, speculation about President Bola Tinubu’s plans for his running mate has been rife, with various stakeholders and interest groups within the All Progressives Congress (APC) weighing in on the matter.
However, the Presidency has now provided clarity on the timeline for Tinubu’s running mate selection, putting an end to the speculation.
With this development, the focus shifts to the APC convention in 2026, where President Tinubu’s nomination will set the stage for his running mate choice.
Meanwhile, Chief Oliver Okpala, Senior Special Assistant on Public Enlightenment to the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has strongly condemned what he described as an attempted assault on his principal during the party’s North East stakeholders’ meeting in Gombe State over the weekend.
In a statement issued Monday, Okpala said the incident, which involved a group of unruly individuals allegedly targeting the APC National Chairman, was not only irresponsible but a grave threat to democracy and internal party cohesion.
“There is no space for violence in Nigeria’s political space presently. Party members should resort to the civilised tenet of political decency, decorum and comportment in their political activities in the country,” Okpala declared.
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