By James Orji
A Northern group, Coalition of Arewa Forum for Good Governance, CAFGG, has cautioned the Presidential candidate of the ruling APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, not to throw the country into crisis by picking a Muslim as his running mate.
Amidst fears that the APC will pick a Muslim from the North to run with Tinubu, a former Lagos Governor who won the nomination to fly the party’s flag in the 2023 Presidential election, the group is agitated.
The Presidential Candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, a Muslim from the North, will chose a Christian running mate from the South.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has however set this week as deadline for political parties to forward the names of their Vice Presidential candidates to its office.
Reacting to the apprehension among Nigerians of possible Muslim-Muslim APC ticket, CAFGG said the APC will plunge the country into serious political problem if it picks a Muslim as Tinubu’s running mate in the forthcoming election.
The group said in a statement that APC should find a way of cooling down “tension. We are calling on the winner of APC primaries and flagbearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to pick the only Northern Christian Governor in the party.”
CAFGG said, ”Nigerians are not unaware that Tinubu is a Muslim from the South-West geo-political zone,thus we feel it would be rational for a northern Christian, especially from the marginalized North-Central geo-political zone to be a running mate, who can also take care of interest of the minorities.”
“We strongly believe that once a Christian is picked, the warning and threats by Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) would have been taken care of too.
“It is not about Political Party now, but the country as a whole. This is part of reasons we are calling on Tinubu to shun those rooting for a Muslim -Muslim ticket under the guise of “merit and competence.
“We are sure the South will also be comfortable with him, considering his detribalised disposition and how he has handled the problems of insecurity in Plateau State as the Governor.
“The interest of few and selfish politicians rooting for Muslim-Muslim ticket should not be allowed to override the interest of most Nigerians, who desire a united one nation”.
Meanwhile, Senator Ajibola Bashiru from Osun state has advised Tinubu to allow APC leaders in the North West and North East to select the Vice Presidential candidate for the party. According to Bashiru who is also the spokesman of the Senate, the party is depending on the two regions to win the 2023 Presidential election, as such they should be allowed to determine the running mate for Tinubu. The Senator is a muslim and ally of the former Lagos State Governor.
Bashiru who spoke on a Television Continental programme on Monday, said competence rather than religion should determine the choice of Vice Presidential candidate for APC in next year’s Presidential election.
Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai shares same opinion.
