Muslim-Muslim ticket: Northern Christian leaders call for Buhari’s intervention

Obiora Ifoh, Abuja

 

Christian political leaders of Northern Nigeria have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the same faith ticket agenda of the All Progressives Congress, APC warning that such arrangement will certainly result in a massive revolt against the party.

 

The leaders who are also members of the APC said they are disturbed that someone who wants to be a leader for all sections of the country is resorting to religious exclusivism as a tool for wining an election.

 

Daily Champion reported that APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the weekend nominated former governor of Borno state, Senator Kashim Shettima as his running mate, both Muslims in the 2023 presidential election.

 

But in a communique issued by Prof. Doknan DD Sheni, Dr. Ishaya G Bauka and Prof. Saidu Ibrahim on behalf of the leaders after its meeting in Abuja, said, “That Mr. President being also the Leader of APC is urged to intervene in this matter in order to ensure justice, equity and fair play in the interest of the peace and stability of this great nation and save our party from disintegration. We believe that PMB who fought to keep Nigeria one, will not allow fanatics on both sides to wreak havoc on what remains of the tapestry that binds us as a people. We can avoid the dire political consequences of the contraption called “same faith ticket”.

 

“We are disheartened that someone who wants to be a leader for all sections of the country is resorting to religious exclusivism as a tool for wining an election. This will certainly result in a massive revolt against the party. Leadership is all about inclusiveness, justice and equity.

 

“At this moment of Nations peril, we believe that what should be paramount in Nigeria is UNITY. For without unity we cannot build. Any political party or candidate

that elevates the greed of a few people above the needs of the generality of the people has no business running the affairs of Nigena.”

 

The Christian leaders also said that meeting noted with concern the resignation of some high profile Christians from the APC across the States of the Federation, as a consequence with more to follow unless concerted efforts are made to

redeem the Party from hate mongers and those who seek to exploit religion to perpetuate their self-interests as opposed to national interest.

 

The communique states in parts,  “That as Christians within the APC, we cannot in all fairness to our consciences and faith go to our various constituencies to campagn for a Muslim – Muslim ticket.

 

“That Nigeria is a multi-religious and a constitutonal democracy and NOT a theocracy with religion as a major national fault line which cannot be whimsically manipulated without dire political consequences on our peaceful co-existence as a people.

 

“That the current Nigerian environment and political atmosphere of the nation is different from what occurred in 1993 and therefore a Muslim – Muslim ticket is unacceptable. It doesn’t take the smart to know that the Abiola/Kingibe victory in 1993 turned out to be a pyrryic victory as there was never a President Abiola nor vice President Kingibe. Is that what we want a repeat of in 2023?

 

“The selection of a Muslim running mate is a display of crass insensitivity to the complexity of modern Nigeria and the entire Church. It is also a betrayal of the advocates of unity and peaceful co-cxistence with our Muslim brothers including notable Imams who had forewarned the Party and the candidate from traveling that treacherous route.

 

“That the APC has always come under the suspicion of the Church as pursuing an islamization agenda. Hence the various labels of the APC as Islamic Movement, Islamic brotherhood, Janjaweed party, Boko Haram party etc, etc. Now with all the

positions in the hands of our Muslim brothers, it would take ingenious mendacity to prove otherwise.

 

“That if the APC said a Muslim – Muslim ticket would be injurious to the health of our nation in 2015, what has therefore radically changed to make Muslim – Muslim ticket good for the health of our nation in 2023, if we may ask?

 

“That the rejection of a Muslim – Muslim ticket by Christians would undermine the electoral fortunes of the APC and its candidates across all States and constituencies where Christians enjoy numerical advantage. By so doing APC has recklessly thrown its Christian candidates under the bus across the nation.

 

“That considering the fact that PMB, the chairman of the party, deputy chairman north, the president of the senate, the speaker and deputy speaker, and now both the presidential candidate and his running mate etc, are all Muslims, and assuming that such lopsidedness does not violate Section14 (3) of the Constitution: if this was to be reversed so that all these were Christians, can any contentious Muslim in Nigeria attempt to sell such patently unjust and unfair arrangements to the Muslim Ummah in Nigeria?

 

“The APC party constitution preamble states “will guarantee equal opportunity for all mutual and peaceful co-existence, respect and understanding, eliminating all forms of discrimination and social injustice among Nigerian”. The Muslim-Muslim ticket appears to have violated this provision.”

 

Meanwhile, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF and close ally of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, Mr Babachir Lawal has described as a “disastrous error”, Tinubu’s resort to picking a fellow Muslim as his running mate.

 

The former SGF said though Tinubu is a good man and great listener, it is in the nature of power that sycophants and lapdogs have the most influence on leaders with such character traits.

 

According to him, Tinubu has now been cornered by self-serving lapdogs, and warned that the Muslim-Muslim ticket is dead on arrival.

 

In a statement made available to newsmen on Tuesday night, Lawal said: “I thought I will be able to avoid commenting on the disastrous error by my very good friend, Sen Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his choice of a running mate. I will be the very last person to stand in the way of my very good friend Tinubu’s path to the presidency. This is because since 2011 my consuming passion has been for him to succeed Buhari as President of Nigeria.

 

“It will not be true if I say that I did not see it coming. I have often read his body language, picked up snippets from several discussions with his lapdogs (some of whom, sadly are Christians but most of whom are Muslims) and I have conveyed my reservations to them against the pitfalls of a Muslim-Muslim ticket towards which I sensed they were drifting.

 

“As part of my obligation to him, a close friend, I had on many occasions argued the merits and demerits of both ticket permutations to him. I have done so in both verbal and written form and I have likewise, done so with some of his close respectable associates and friends. In all instances I had left him with the sole responsibility for his final decision arguing that in the end the consequences of the outcome of any bad decision will be his to bear. There might be some collateral damages though.

 

“I have also on several occasions passed on to him counsels and messages from some well meaning Nigerians intended to alert him on the possible outcomes of the Presidential ticket permutations. Tinubu is a very good man. He is a great listener. He has a very humble and friendly disposition to every one. He is very generous in both cash and kind, especially where it could advance his political interests. But I have realized that it is in the nature of power that sycophants and lapdogs have the most influence on leaders with such character traits.

 

“They will lie to him, malign and disparage others and generally do any thing to curry his favour and to also put well-meaning associates in bad light. I suspect this is what has happened to my friend.

 

“He has been cornered by self-serving, hero-worshiping, lapdogs. It never used to be like this. While in his hay-days in Lagos, he surrounded himself with smart, street-wise guys that could tell truth to power. He had Rauf Aregbesola, Yemi Osinbajo, Babatunde Fashola, Dele Alake, Muiz Banire, etc.

 

“The Lagos days were the days of think-tanks, strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation, principles and ideologies. But these people have since grown-up and moved up to establish their own systems living my friend stranded. Nature they say abhors vacuum. Welcome the Abuja equivalent. But the Abuja equivalent are people inflicted with the modern Nigerian diseases – religious bigotry, sycophancy and morbid tribalism.

 

“They are mostly political jobbers who are most times not averse to the application of diabolical means. Gone are the days of think-tanks, and strategic planning. Gone are the days of principles and ideologies. Try and call a meeting; they will not attend.

 

Try and make a plan; they will sabotage it. Everything is ad-hoc, everything is chaotic because they excel in such environments. The result is that they have played on his longterm ambition to be President and have built it into a sort of desperation and a crescendo that easily justifies this satanic resort to a Muslim-Muslim ticket. Greek Gift

 

“This is the calamity that has befallen my friend. And why Kashim Shetima? He is an overambitious man who has a Machiavellian bent and has lots of money with which to procure a preferred-candidate status among Tinubu’s lapdogs. And as we are beginning to see, to also procure bogus supporters especially from among the Christian community to help launder his not-so-good image.

 

“But as a popular proverb goes: ‘Those whom the gods want to destroy they first make mad’. It appears that the gods want to destroy the APC and its Presidential Candidate and have chosen the instrumentality of the northern Muslim governors and their super ambitious tool and Kashim Shettima for this purpose.

 

“Alhaji Kashim Shettima is a Greek gift from the Northern governors to Tinubu. I advise Bola to make sure Kashim’s two hands are always in his plain sight and empty. True, based on the advice of his new friends, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has made his choice and I am sure he thinks he is ready for the outcome of that choice. He has chosen to bring religion to the front burner of Nigerian politics. And being a Muslim he has chosen to take sides with his own religion.

 

“For all he cares, Christians can go to blazes with their votes. But he must also be told that there will be consequences for this choice. Some of them are that Christians all over the country will revolt against the APC to put the chances of his election in serious jeopardy. It will also put the election of all Christians standing for elections in Christian dominated areas in jeopardy. This could result in APC being a minority party in both the National and State Houses of Assembly.

 

“Now tell me which Christian will vote for APC with the following contraption: Muslim Presidential Candidate (Lagos), Muslim Vice Presidential Candidate (Borno), Muslim National Chairman (Nasarawa), Muslim Deputy National Chairman (Borno), Muslim President (Katsina); Muslim Senate President (Yobe); Muslim Speaker (Lagos); Muslim Deputy Speaker (Plateau) e.t.c. APC the great! Wu na de try woh!

 

“The northern governors and some northern Muslim elites must have persuaded him that they will never vote for a ticket that has a northern Christian on it. And he has agreed with them. But if he thinks a Muslim-Muslim ticket will win him the northern Muslim votes, he should have a rethink. They will massively vote for one of their sons because it is in their nature to do so.

 

“Buhari, their first son will not be on the ballot in 2023. Atiku their second son will be. Proof of a possible Islamic agenda was leaked when Governor Ganduje, the ‘Kadmul Islam’, gave advance notice that Tinubu had assured them he would be nominating a Muslim as his running mate.

 

For those who might not know, Governor Ganduje has a foundation called ‘Ganduje Foundation’ which purpose according to its website is to ‘provide selfless service to humanity and Islam’ but whose primary purpose it appears is the conversion of Christians to Islam. So if my very good friend Tinubu in a desperate bid to become President allows himself to be made into a religious bigot or even a mujahideen, he is welcome.

 

But it is a risk that will not play out positively for his presidential bid. But, were he to win and become President of Nigeria, it will be as a sectional President; an Islamic President. And he will surely face massive discontent and opposition even before taking off.

 

“Expecting Nigerians to ignore this crass insensitivity to the country’s diversity amounts to acceding to the perpetration of very grave injustice and discrimination against a huge segment of the society. No one who seeks to be president of Nigeria should ever deploy the tool of religious extremism and exclusivism as a tool to win elections. This is very very dangerous. And this is very sad. But, barring any last minute change of mind, Bola has made his choice.

 

“He should be bluntly told that in this choice Nigerian Christians clearly see a pending Islamic Republic of Nigeria in its infancy and are right to be severely anxious. There is gloom among the Christian community all over the country since Tinubu announced Kashim Shettima as his running mate.

 

“Are the generality of the Muslim Ummah happy with this? The answer is a resounding NO. How then do we respond? The decision as to how to respond to this deliberately senseless act of provocation is both corporate to each religious group and also personal to each voter who loves peace, and hate injustice.

 

“Christians want to continue to leave peacefully with their Muslim neighbours at home, at school, at the work place, in the markets and on the streets as we have always done or desired to do. And I am sure Moslems share this view too. No one person’s ambition to rule over us should be allowed to set us apart and at war with one another. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, should be compelled upon by whoever can do so to rescind this decision.

 

“President Muhammadu Buhari should exercise his powers as the Commander-in-Chief and as the APC Leader to revoke this nomination of a VP by Tinubu. The APC National Chairman should refuse to sign the nomination forms if not rescinded.

 

“There is a story in the Bible on how some people responded to similar provocation: ‘And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, ‘What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.’ So Israel went to their tents” (1 Kings 12:16).

 

“I will love for Bola to be our next President. But I am afraid a Muslim-Muslim ticket will be ‘Dead on Arrival’. And the arrival date according to INEC’s election time table is 25th February, 2023. This ticket will drag down the whole APC members to the pit. We all should reject it”.