Members of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Kaduna State have begged former the National Leader of the party and presidential aspirant, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to pick the state governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, as his running mate in the 2023 presidential race.

Tinubu had last Thursday visited Kaduna to canvass the votes of the 69 APC state delegates ahead of the party’s presidential primary.

The presidential hopeful had told the delegates that he was confident that he would be the nation’s next President when the incumbent President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), would bow out next year.

Tinubu had said, “Some are running, I don’t know where they are going but I am going to the Villa.”

Against this background, the Kaduna APC delegates unanimously endorsed Tinubu, while the Kaduna chapter of the party pleaded with Tinubu to pick El-Rufai as his running mate.

Speaking on behalf of the Kaduna delegates, the lawmaker representing Sabon Gari, Kaduna Federal Constituency and Chairman, House Committee on Ports and Harbours, Garba Babawo, appealed to Tinubu to pick El-Rufai as his running mate.

Babawo said, “We have a request for you (Tinubu), sir. What I’m about to say, I did not tell our governor because I know if I tell him he would not support it. We want you to take our governor as your running mate.

“We don’t want him to go and settle outside the country after the election because we know his plan. His plan is to leave the country and live overseas after his tenure as the governor. But we want him to serve the country as your running mate.”

Earlier, in his remarks at the event, a former Governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima, said Tinubu possessed the leadership attributes of all the past leaders of the country, particularly the humility and peace-loving nature of General Yakubu Gowon.