There are only two christian vice chancellors in all the federal government universities in the north. The rest are Muslims, according to Babachir Lawal, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
The former SGF made the revelation while justifying the decision of christian leaders in the north not to support the same faith ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC in the 2023 presidential election.
Lawal and other christian leaders including Yakubu Dogara, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives have kicked against the ruling APC Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket.
Bola Tinubu and Kassim Shetima are the presidential and vice presidential candidates of the party. Both are Muslims.
Speaking in a BBC interview on Tuesday, Lawal said the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket will further lead to marginalisation of christians in the north, noting that only few Government positions are occupied by Christians in the region.
For instance, out of 27 universities and Polytechnics in the north there are only
two vice chancellors and two rectors, he said.
According to him, christians have decided not to vote for APC because of fear of marginalisation.
He said the christian community have chosen to vote for the opposition People’s Democratic party, PDP.
The former federal government scribe, a former ally of the APC presidential candidate, Tinubu, said the former Lagos governor made a big mistake by going for a Muslim running mate.
He said the APC will lose the presidential election next year because of the Muslims-muslim ticket.
Lawal said, “I am not for Bola Tinubu now. I am not for a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“It is Bola who did not want to go with us, he chose where he wants to go, and we told him that we will not vote for him if he did a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) discussed with us and they agreed to do what we want if we support them and we agreed to support them.
“You see the problem of the northerners, if you say you are a Christian, it is difficult for us to get a job. You see, of the 27 universities in the north, there are only two Christian VCs and of 27 polytechnics; there are only two Christian rectors, that’s federal, but not to talk of state-owned.”
Babachir complained that the “discrimination” shown to Christians in the North was too much for them, “and you still went ahead to do Muslim-Muslim ticket; that is double blows on us.”
