Muslim-Muslim Ticket: Tinubu Polarises APC Govs; Northern Christians Angry

Christians in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC from 19 northern states have warned that the party’s Muslim-muslim ticket will have grave consequence for the country.

The coalition said it cannot in good conscience campaigned for Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate after he picked, Kassim Shettima, a fellow Muslim as his running mate.

The APC Muslim-Muslim ticket has raised serious concern among Nigerians who insist that the party has polarized the country the more along religious lines.

For instance, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF and chieftain of APC Babachir Lawal in his letter to the party on Tuesday said the Muslim-Muslim ticket ‘is dead on arrival’ urging the national chairman of the Abdullahi Adamu not to sign the nomination form of Tinubu.

The APC flagbearer, however, said the decision to pick Shettima is in the best interest of the country. The APC governors have backed him on this, saying they will help him to win the 2023 presidential election.

But the coalition said they cannot be part of APC plan to foist a Muslim-Muslim ticket on Nigerians.

The group disclosed this in a communique issued on Tuesday in Abuja signed by its Chairman, Prof. Doknan Sheni and secretary, General Ishaya Bauka.

The group described the APC decision as unacceptable, in a constitution democracy like Nigeria, adding that the country is moving towards theocracy.

What the country needs at the moment to move forward is to unite rather than divide along religious or ethnic lines.

The communique reads: “The selection of a Muslim vice presidential candidate portrayed insensitivity to the Christians in the Nation. The fear of the Christians in the north and the nation in general is that the APC party will be viewed as an Islamic party and the Muslim – Muslim ticket was not possible in 2015, why should it be possible in 2023?

“More so, that we are apprehensive that the person picked might have had a hand in the chibok girls Saga and other terror activities. Muslim – Muslim ticket would undermine the election chances of Christians candidates in APC in the various states in the North.The Christians in the north and the whole nation are highly aggravated

“Considering that the chairman of the party is a Muslim, deputy chairman north is a Muslim, the president of the senate is a Muslim, the speaker and deputy speaker are Muslims, and now both the presidential and Vice presidential candidates are Muslims and apart from this violating the constitution section 14 subsection 3, if this was to be reversed that all these were Christians, can any Moslem in the North be able to sell the APC presidential tickets to any Muslim ummah?

“For without unity we cannot build. Any party or candidate that elevates the greed of a few above the needs of the many has no business running the affairs of Nigeria.”

Meanwhile, the magazine learnt that Tinubu’s decision to pick Shettima as his running mate has polarized the Progressives Governors’ Forum, PGF. Only nine out of the 22 APC governors are said to have thrown their weight behind the Tinubu/Shettima ticket. Others are still angry that they were not carried along before Tinubu made the decision for chose the former Borno state governor to run with him in 2023.