As more reactions emerge over the choice of a former Governor of Borno State, Sen. Kashim Shettima, as the running mate of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the public mood has kept getting dimmer with large majority across the divides disapproving of the action. The Catholic Herald Weekly newspaper recalls that the APC presidential candidate revealed his running mate on Sunday in Daura, Katsina State subsequent to his Sallah visit to President Muhammadu Buhari at his private residence. Shettima, the representative of Bornu Central Senatorial District is a Muslim. In the public space and on social media, backlashes have continued to trail the party’s adoption of a Muslim-Muslim ticket with the populace’s vows to make their choices at the polls. “Nigerians, whether Muslims, Christians, Traditionalists, etc, should reject APC with their votes come 2023,” Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) stated in clear rejection of APC fielding a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket. In his statement made public on Sunday, the legal luminary described the party’s decision as “a terrible choice, in one million ways!!!” He said, “It is a poor choice, in a million ways!!! “Nigerians, whether Muslims, Christians, Traditionalists, etc, should reject APC with their votes come 2023.
“A Muslim-Muslim ticket in present-day Nigeria is fuel for Boko Haram, incentive for ISWAP and a call for more terrorists. “Unless of course those parading the ticket are themselves complicit. “There is no better way to insult our sensibilities. “I pray it is not true.” The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) objected to the same faith ticket. Mr. Adebayo Oladeji, CAN’s spokesman said a Muslim-Muslim leadership will spell more trouble for Christians considering the senseless killings of Christians and their clerics even under the current Buhari’s administration that has a pastor as the Vice President. He added, “We knew this was what he was going to do and we have warned against it. It is up to Nigerians to decide on what they want.” The Youth wing of apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide (OYC), concurred. Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, National President of the group, stated that the level of killings and violence targeted at Christians under the present administration was unprecedented and expressed concern that the Christian community would become a totally endangered species under the Muslim-Muslim presidency. He declared that Tinubu’s decision was an insult on millions of Christians in the country as no religion had precedence over the other.
He said, “This is totally unacceptable and should be rejected by anyone who means well for the country. “In 2014, Tinubu made efforts to force Muslim-Muslim ticket on Buhari, but the President resisted it by listening to the wise counsel of people like former Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki. He balanced the ticket. “Fast forward to seven years after, Tinubu now desperately wants to actualise a Muslim-Muslim presidency. There is more to this than meets the eyes. The insensitivity of Tinubu and the APC leadership is dreadful and that is their downfall. “We see this as a grand conspiracy to sink Nigeria. How can anyone contemplate this arrangement in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society like Nigeria?” Okwu noted, “The country has never been this polarized and every sensitive person should have been concerned with processes that would engender national cohesion and unity but what we have seen from APC’s Tinubu is a further division of the country.
“Tinubu claimed the choice is based on competence. Our question to him is simple: does it mean that from the 19 Northern States there is no competent Christian? We can see the obvious falsehood in Tinubu’s claims. “No religion is more superior than the other, but this is what Tinubu is making people to believe, a situation that would throw the country into avoidable crisis.” The President of the Youth wing of apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide further urged Nigerians to place the country above self, stressing that, “justice and equity are the true ingredients of democracy.” In same vein, Most Rev. (Dr.) Matthew Kukah, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto charged Nigerians to figure out the direction they would want to go at the polls in 2023. His statement on Monday read in part, “This is what you call team selection and everybody will choose depending on what they think will give them a fair chance. “So people will take responsibility for the choices they have made. “For me, it is not something to lose sleep over. “If people feel unhappy with the kind of choices that have been made, that is why we are democrats, you can’t force it.
“We outsiders cannot force a choice of any candidate. “It is now left for you to look at the choices that have been made. “And there is no guarantee that all Christians will vote for Christians and all Muslims will vote for Muslims.” Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, Catholic Archbishop of Abuja termed the choice of APC Muslim-Muslim ticket as inappropriate, stressing that Nigeria is not ripe for a same-faith Presidential ticket. “When you decide that only one religion will produce the major actors, excluding others who will become like strangers, it would not be fair and just. For the sake of religious sensitivity in a place like Nigeria, it is good that we have a balance so that we become like one big family,” Archbishop Kaigama said. Chief Edwin Clerk, elder statesman and Convener of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), took a swipe at APC and its 2023 Presidential torchbearer classifying the nomination of a Muslim running mate as a threat to the country. Clerk asked if Tinubu’s action does not lend weight to the actualisation of rumours to islamise Nigeria as a country. He said, “I feel threatened for our beloved country because of the way things are going.
Nigeria is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation, with Christianity and Islam as the major religions, even though Nigeria is a secular state. “In compliance with Constitutional provisions of inclusiveness, the number one and number two positions in the country, viz President and Vice President have always been occupied by practitioners of the two major religions, to ensure balancing.” Clark noted that Asiwaju Tinubu could not be the vice presidential candidate to now President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 because of the Muslim-Muslim ticket which was confirmed by Tinubu himself in Abeokuta, Ogun State, recently. Her him, “It will be recalled that the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives’ Congress (APC), Alhaji Ahmed Bola Tinubu, could not be chosen in 2015 as Vice President to Muhammadu Buhari, because he is a Muslim and Muhammadu Buhari is a Muslim. “Alhaji Ahmed Bola Tinubu, in his own words confirmed this in his statement, in Abeokuta, Ogun State. What has changed? One quality of a good leader is consistency. “A good leader must act in the same way at all times, to all people. He must not display double standard.
“Today, what has the Presidential candidate of the APC, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu done? He has picked a person of his religion, a Muslim, as his running mate. Such choice is not inclusive; it is not good for a secular state like Nigeria. “There is presently a sharp division in the country, even on religious lines, and all patriots are seeking ways to salvage the situation. “Therefore, Alhaji Tinubu’s decision to take a fellow Muslim as his running mate will further worsen the situation in the country. He should know that patriotism is a quality of a good leader. “On the reasons adduced by Alhaji Tinubu on why he chose Kashim Shettima as running mate, is the APC Presidential standard-bearer telling Nigerians that there are no Christians in the APC from the north who are “competent, capable and reliable? “There are rumours of an attempt to islamise the country.
Are all these pointers to the confirmation and actualisation of such rumour? “One needs to bear in mind the antecedents of the major backers of Alhaji Ahmed Tinubu’s ambition, which include Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the Governor of Kano State, and the chosen one – Kashim Shettima. “Both the Governor and Deputy Governor in Kaduna State, are Muslims. A blatant action by the Governor, Nasir el-Rufai; unfortunately, the APC gubernatorial candidate for the 2023 election, is following suit. Is there a deliberate move of making Kaduna an Islamic state? “Unconfirmed statistics put the ratio of Christians and Muslims in Kaduna State as 50/50; some statistics even put it as 55% for Christians and 45% for Muslims, yet Nasir el-Rufai, despite complaints and agitations by people not only from Kaduna State, but from the entire country, ‘decided’ to pick a Muslim as his deputy,” he said. Asiwaju Tinubu in disclosing his running mate justified his action thus. His statement on choice of Senator Shettima read in part, “Having now listened to the sage, careful advice of a broad section of the party and of the nation, there are a few points I feel I must make about the exceptional and extraordinary person with whom I will share the APC ticket and the principles of open and good governance that informed this choice.
“I am mindful of the energetic discourse concerning the possible religion of my running mate. Just and noble people have talked to me about this. Some have counseled that I should select a Christian to please the Christian community. Others have said I should pick a Muslim to appeal to the Muslim community. Clearly, I cannot do both. “Both sides of the debate have impressive reasons and passionate arguments supporting their positions. Both arguments are right in their own way. But neither is right in the way that Nigeria needs at the moment. As president, I hope to govern this nation toward uncommon progress. This will require innovation. It will require steps never before taken. It will also require decisions that are politically difficult and rare.
“Today, I announce my selection with pride because I have made it not based on religion or to please one community or the other. I made this choice because I believe this is the man who can help me bring the best governance to all Nigerians, period, regardless of their religious affiliation or considerations of ethnicity or region. This is why, today, I announce the selection of Shettima as my partner and running mate in the mission to advance and reclaim the fortunes of this great country and the hopes of its people. “In 1993, Nigerians embrace Chief MKO Abiola and a fellow Muslim running mate, Baba Gana Kingibe in one of our fairest elections ever held.
The spirit of 1993 is upon us again in 2023.” The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) described the Asiwaju Tinubu’s action as unconstitutional and illegal despite all entreaties to the contrary and urged all patriotic Nigerians to reject the party at the poll. HURIWA faulted Tinubu’s decision, saying the experience of a Muslim-Muslim ticket in Kaduna State in the last five years by Governor Nasir el-Rufai has shown that an all-Muslim chief executive and deputy in a pluralistic society amounts to discrimination, “which constitutes an infraction against Section 42(1) of the Constitution and violation of broad-based composition of government as spelt out in section 14 (3) of the Constitution on Federal Character Principles in appointments in Nigeria.” Dr. Bitrus Pogu, National President of Middle Belt Forum (MBF), described the choice as “insensitivity of the APC to the mood and pains of Nigerians at this point in time.” He debunked Tinubu’s claims on choice of running mate, “Nigerians have not recovered from the insurgency coming from mainly Islamic origin; it shows that the APC is insensitive to the plight of Nigeria and Nigerians. And it’s not ready to bring healing, reconciliation and rescue Nigeria from the problems it is facing. “Now it is also an unfortunate development because this time is not the same as the MKO Abiola time, which was several years ago.
These are times that religion should be handled with care.” Reno Omokri, a former aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan has reacted twice on his Twitter handle to the decision of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to pick Senator Kashim Shettima as his running mate. On Sunday, he wrote: “So, APC is giving us Tinubu, a drug lord, and Kashim Shettima, a suspected Boko Haram sympathiser, as presidential candidate and running mate. Really? Is this the best the APC could do? Drugs and terrorism? What a mixture. White heroin and guns! Which way Nigeria?” Omokri reminded how former Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, had in 2016 accused Shettima of creating and funding Boko Haram during his tenure. In a separate tweet on Tuesday, he said, “Nobody should be too worried about the Tinubu Muslim-Muslim ticket. Everyone who has tried it in Nigeria has either lost or was never sworn in.
Everybody! No exception. Yesterday and today are pregnant with what will happen to Tinubu. Nigeria has left that bus-stop!” He stated further, “Nigeria is too divided for a same religious ticket, like Tinubu’s Muslim-Muslim ticket. It is just like a same sex marriage. As a nation, we are not ready for both same sex marriages and same religion political marriages. Nigeria needs peace. Nigeria needs balance!” Shettima’s emergence as Tinubu’s running mate has obviously not received a warm welcome; the majority of the citizenry are clamouring for balance and fairness.
