The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, yesterday, unveiled Senator Kashim Shettima, Muslim and former governor of Borno State as his running mate, ending weeks of cat and mouse game.

However, the decision to settle for a Muslim-Muslim ticket has elicited wide condemnations from Christians and Northern minorities.

Tinubu disclosed his choice to journalists at the Daura residence of President Muhammadu Buhari. The APC flag bearer arrived Daura to pay Sallah homage to President Buhari who arrived his home town on Friday. The former Lagos State governor was in Daura to pay Sallah homage to Buhari as well as intimate him of his decision to pick Shettima as his running mate.

The former two-term Lagos State governor, who won APC’s presidential ticket at the June 8 special national convention and presidential primary election, had earlier chose Ibrahim Kabiru Masari as place holder for the vice presidential slot.

Tinubu was away in France from June 27 on a short vacation during which he held some strategic meetings. He returned to Nigeria on Saturday early enough for Sallah festivities.

The Sun had last week exclusively reported that Tinubu had settled for North East and that  his choice had been narrowed down to two – Governor Babagana Zulum and Shettima.

Tinubu’s announcement came amidst protests from the leadership of various Christian bodies in Nigeria, especially the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Catholic Bishops. His choice, Daily Sun learnt, does not not enjoy the backing of Northern APC governors especially those from the North West, who had insisted that one of them be picked.

CAN fumes

Mixed reaction has trailed the APC’s presidential candidate’s decision to run a same religion card.

CAN’s spokesperson, Adebayo Oladeji, said Nigerians should be ready to face the consequences of their actions if they endorsed and vote for a Muslim-Muslim ticket. 

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“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.

“You are all alive when we warned Buhari not to allow Muslims to dominate the security architecture of the country and he did it. I think we can see the way the criminals are operating with impunity.

“So, if Tinubu says he is opting for a Muslim-Muslim ticket in a polarised country like ours, if Nigerians endorse him and vote for him, whatever happens, Nigerians will face the consequences.

“If you have a government where a pastor is a vice president and pastors and worshipers are being killed you can imagine what will happen when we have a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

“It is left to Nigerians to make their choice, let them vote them in and we will all face the consequences together.

“We are raising our alarm. It is an irony that Buhari they regarded as an extremist when we raised an alarm to warn him against a Muslim-Muslim ticket, he heeded and opted for a Christian as his vice presidential candidate. ”

APC, Tinubu misfired

PDP chieftain and former presidential aspirant, Alhaji Isa Saulawa, described the Muslim-Muslim ticket as signifying victory for his party, the PDP.

“This is good news for us because it’s an indication that the PDP will return to power in 2023. There is no doubt that whatsoever that the current regime of President Muhammadu Buhari, right from inception, adopted a policy of deliberate marginalisation of the Christian community in Nigeria despite a Christian vice president. So, you can imagine a scenario where we have a Muslim-Muslim presidency. In fact, we are already celebrating the APC and Tinubu blunder.”

It’s best choice -Publisher

Renown newspaper publisher and politics analyst, Malam Mohammed Katsina, described Tinubu’s choice as the best for the APC arguing that Shettima recorded outstanding performance when he was governor of Borno State.

“This issue of Muslim-Muslim ticket is irrelevant and it’s my view that Nigerians should rise above such pedestrian sentiments and forge ahead for the overall development of the country. There is nothing wrong with Muslim-Muslim ticket or Christian-Christian ticket in a democratic setting.

“If you take Kaduna State as a case study, you see that the Muslim-Muslim ticket is viable where the governor is Muslim and the deputy is also Muslim.

It’s not best arrangement -Kwankwanso

The presidential candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, said Muslim-Muslim ticket agenda is not a good arrangement.

Speaking in an interview on national television last night, he said so many things have changed in the country since 1993 when MKO Abiola and Babagana Kingibe, both Muslims, ran on the platform of the then Social Democratic Party (SDP) and won.

“In 1993 in SDP, I was deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, we found ourselves in a similar situation where we had a Muslim-Muslim ticket. That was almost 30 years ago and in 2023, it would be exactly 30 years. And so many things have changed in this country. The possible thing to have changed is the quality of leadership that we have seen over the years, which allowed Nigerians to, unfortunately, take to their cocoons in terms of religion, ethnicity region and so on.

“That is why NNPP will do whatever it can to bring Nigerians together but for now I believe the persons and people who are talking about Muslim-Muslim tickets will soon know that is not the best arrangement. And it is just a matter of time they will realize the mistake of doing it,” he said.

SUN