PARIS OLYMPIC GAMES
A groundswell of resentment and criticism has trailed the Muslim-Muslim APC presidential ticket of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu announced on Sunday in Daura, Kastina State, President Muhammadu Buhari’s country home.
Reactions from the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), lawyers, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Northwest governors, and the Labour Party point to one thing – insensitivity, politics of exclusion and alienation of the Christian faith and community in the country in the selection of Sen. Kashim Shettima, a Muslim from Borno, Northeast, as Tinubu’s running mate.
Describing the development as unconstitutional and illegal, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) said in spite of all entreaties the party still went ahead to slam on the country Muslim-Muslim ticket.
It, therefore, urged all patriotic Nigerians to reject the party at the polls in 2023.
Persecondnews reported that Tinubu had while paying a Sallah homage to President Buhari in Daura unveiled Shettima as his running mate to newsmen and Buhari.
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.”
For the Christian Association of Nigeria, APC’s decision in a polarized country is “wrong and insensitive’’.
CAN’s spokesperson, Adebayo Oladeji, pointed out that if having a pastor as the vice president of the country and Christian clerics and worshipers are being killed, the security of lives and properties of Christians under a Muslim-Muslim could not be guaranteed.
Nigerians, he said, should be ready to face the consequences of their actions if they endorse and vote for a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“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,’’ Oladeji said.
In his reaction, Lagos human rights lawyer, Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), also irked by the development, asked Nigerians to reject the APC for fielding a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, describing it as “a terrible choice, in one 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, the 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,’’ Adegboruwa said in a statement.
Also feelers from Northwest governors on the selection of Shettima as vice-presidential candidate confirmed some misgivings but called for “understanding’’ among politicians despite depriving the zone of the VP ticket.
But the Deputy National Chairman of Labour Party, Mr Olorunfemi Ayo, said the political arrangement by the ruling party ahead of 2023 is the “height of APC’s insensitivity to the secular’’ status of the country.
He said: “To say that there are no Christians in the North or the Christians in the North are not competent or not worthy for an APC joint ticket in 2023 is to also justify what some people have been saying in different quarters that the plan of the President Buhari administration is to Islamize Nigeria.
“That is exactly what they are pushing and they want to justify it by whatever means. The rest is left for Nigerians to decide whether they want to promote religious bigotry above the development of the country.
“In any political environment, where you are insensitive to the culture of the people and you want to force yourself on them, you can only continue to breed crises, as they started with crises from the inception of their government, till this time.”
In the same vein, a former Secretary-General of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Mr Anthony Sani, faulted the choice of Muslim-Muslim ticket would further divide Nigeria rather than uniting it.
“The challenges posed by Muslim-Muslim ticket is not so much about winning the elections as to the aftermath of governance.
“In an era where some notable Nigerians have alleged Islamization agenda against APC government, however misguided, this Muslim-Muslim ticket will provide such persons with more ammunition.
“More so that it will run against the promise by the APC candidate that he will unite the country by making Nigeria feel young again with the promise of glory days ahead,’’ he said.
The Middle Belt Forum (MBF) also expressed the resentment about ignoring Christian electorate both in the North and South portend “a danger to the collective wellbeing and unity of the country and an evil plot that Nigerians will defeat in 2023.’’
According to the National President of MBF, Dr Bitrus Pogu, the choice is an unfortunate development.
“The choice is indicative of the ignorance and insensitivity of the APC to the mood and pains of Nigerians at this point in time.
“It is an unfortunate development, unfortunate in the sense that we are living in a terrible period where the country is being tormented by insurgents from all over the place starting from Borno with Boko Haram and Shettima is from there.
“And if such is coming now without consideration to the plurality of this country with regards to region, religion and other issues, I think it is an unfortunate development.
“And for the presidential candidate of the APC to bow to such pressure is an unfortunate development. One would wish that they would look at what would be beneficial to Nigeria at this time.
“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 is 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.’’
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