APC MUSLIM-MUSLIM TICKET: The deafening sounds of opposition against the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket, got louder on Friday, as protesting youths in the northern part of the country say for governor Kashim Shettima is an obstacle to Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 presidential elections.
Basic Facts
- Over 200 youths and supporters of the APC Friday organised a protest against their party’s choice a running mate.
- APC and it`s presidential candidate, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu settled for a Muslim-Muslim joint ticket for the presidential election.
- This has caused lots of controversy across the country and has been pushed back by both Christians and Muslims who see it as divisive.
What We Know
Protests against the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress heightened on Friday with at least 200 youths and supporters of the APC from the North-Central zone demanding a reversal of the decision.
The protesters said the choice of Kashim Shettima was the only obstacle to Bola Tinubu’s victory at the 2023 General election poll. They therefore called on the APC’s presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to drop Kashim Shettima as his running mate.
The protesting youths, under the umbrella of North-Central Progressives Youth, began the protest at Unity Fountain from where they moved to the Presidential Villa.
Chanting solidarity songs, the youths from the six North-Central states (Benue, Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Plateau and Nasarawa) and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) carried banners with inscriptions such as, ‘APC presidential ticket must be for all faiths’, ‘Shettima must go now’, ‘All Christians say no to Islamisation of the APC presidential ticket’, ‘Tinubu and Shettima must do the needful, it is our constitutional right’, ‘Don’t destroy the unity of Nigeria’, APC listen to us now etc.
Musa Attah, the group’s President said the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, as a “man loved and adored by Nigerians”, was quick to add that his only obstacle to getting victory in the 2023 presidential election would be his running mate and former governor of Borno State.
Attah also, called on the President, Muhammadu Buhari, to prevail on Tinubu, to replace Shettima with a Christian for the good of the party and Nigeria.
Notable Quotes
Addressing the crowd and the media, Mr. Musa Attah said, “Mr. President, on numerous occasions you have promised to bequeath a democratic system imbued with workable institutional structures that will stand the test of time. True to your word, the nation’s electoral system has been revolutionised.”
“Your footprints will never be forgotten in the area of infrastructure. The fact that there’s still a country called Nigeria is due to your resilience despite the mirage of security challenges.
“We are also coping with the global economic crisis. Meanwhile, the trial of the suspended Accountant-General of the Federation and many others have proven your zero tolerance for corruption. There are no sacred cows.”
“Yet your biggest legacy will be your successor. Whoever takes over from you will either consolidate some of these gains achieved in the last seven years or dissuade them all. As a progressive nation, we wouldn’t want the latter. And that is why we are beckoning on you to call the ruling All Progressives Congress to order as regards its presidential candidates.”
“Tinubu’s alliance with Shettima may just be his undoing. In the face of unprecedented disunity, the same-faith ticket is a disregard for the country’s fragility and would further polarise the nation. Sections 14 and 15 of the Constitution talk about Federal Character.
“The question is, does the choice of a Muslim-Muslim ticket fit into that Federal Character? As they say in law, you can’t come to equity without clean hands. He who wants equity must do equity. Is there equity in that Muslim-Muslim choice?”
“The rejection of the same-faith ticket should not be seen as Christian objection but a protest by every Nigerian in favour of democracy which guarantees freedom of choice, freedom of expression, and freedom of worship. Nigeria is a secular state.
“Our forefathers were aware of this even before they designed the Constitution. And in making these choices, we must be sensitive to the sensibilities of the people. It shouldn’t be lorded over the people, to whom the power belongs.”
“A Muslim-Muslim Presidency would mean a sectional national ideology to replace the liberty upon which Nigeria was established as a country. With Shettima, the APC is implying that Christians in the North are of no consequence in the scheme of things. We have a huge Christian population in the North-East and North-West. In the North-Central, the Christians are dominant. This is why Shettima must vacate this position.”
Catch-up
On July, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu, announced his choice of running mate to the Nigerian voters.
Takeaway
However, on the raging issue of Muslim-Muslim ticket in Nigeria, there are two sides of the coins, which have polarized much of the population, with each holding strongly their positions.
The choice of Sen. Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) 2023 Presidential Candidate has further energized this debates for and against a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket in today`s Nigeria.
Tinubu, in a statement on Sunday while announcing his choice of Sen. Kashim Shettima, a Muslim, as his running mate, said he was not oblivious of the religious and ethnic sensitivities of the country.
What Tinubu said. He admitted his knowledge of this sensitivity when he said, “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 counselled that I should select a Christian to please the Christian community, others 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 ways,” Tinubu said.
Yes, it is without doubt he cannot choose both a Muslim and a Christian as a running, but could he not have actually satisfied both religions if he wanted to? Off course he could have.
Yet the two-term governor of Lagos State, who is himself a Muslim, went ahead with his decision to choose a Muslim running mate, even in the face of the very vibrant and audacious opposition to the idea from across the country.
Senator Tinubu however, went further to say that he has absolute respect for adherents of Christian and Muslim faiths in the country.
He said the he chose Shettima, a former two-term governor of Borno and a serving senator representing Borno Central in the overriding interest of the country.
They are just pure facts and stand out from the crowd of mostly selfish and beclouded biases out there.
What are these basic facts? We will not identify any particular one separately, but will discuss as many as possible in the following paragraphs going forward.
They pure facts will be embedded in the sentences and paragraphs as the discussion progresses.
First – those in support of the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket. Those who are in support of this idea have tried to sell it to others as a non-issue. They tell you it does not matter who the president is. What matters is the ability to deliver the goods.
Similarly, they tell you that the religion of the president or his running mate is particularly inconsequential too. They say presidents are elected into office to become president of all Nigerians, irrespective of their religion.
Therefore, the religion of the president or a presidential candidate and his VP pick should also not matter either. So laudable an idea. Isn`t it?
In this vein, Bola Tinubu said that if elected into office in the February presidential election with the support of all Nigerians, he would ensure uncommon progress.
He said this would require innovation and steps never taken, adding that it would also require decisions that are politically difficult and rare.
He advocated the need to jettison the politics of ethnic and religious sentiments and imbibe the core value of competence and service delivery in political offices.
Yet, the APC flagbearer did not start leading by example from the choice of his running mate. He failed to assuage the concern of the Christians at this earliest opportunity to do. Instead, he promised them he will do so after he gets their votes.
Secondly – those against the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket. This encompasses those who believe they have had enough of Muslim domination of power in Nigeria and what the country has become of it, especially within the last seven years of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
They argue that even though they understand that the office of the Vice President is so inconsequential that it may not really affect any meaningful changes, just as it has been the case under Vice president Yemi Osinbajo.
Nevertheless, those who are displeased with Tinubu`s choice of a Muslim running mate say that the APC candidate completely disregarded the Christian community in Nigeria, especially those in the north, whom he (Tinubu) by his action have told they are- simply irrelevant and their feelings don’t matter to him.
If it did not matter to him now, it will also not matter if he becomes president. In fact, they hold that should Bola Tinubu become president, then whatever value he holds of Christians at all will perish completely, because he would have proven he does not need their votes to win nor will he need them to win again.
These views are not without strong bases, most of which Bola Tinubu acknowledged in his statement while still going ahead to choose a Muslim running mate to join him in a joint Muslim-Muslim ticket.
Bola Tinubu was quoted as saying, “May I say this to all of you, especially those disappointed in my selection based on religious considerations, I will not and cannot ignore the religious concerns and ethnic sensitivities of our people.
“Taking them into due consideration is an important part of good and able governance”, Tinubu said.
However, he tried to be particularly half-clever by justifying his choice a Muslim running mate on the need for competence in governance above religious sentiments.
Tinubu went further saying, “Religion, ethnicity and region cannot always and fully determine our path.
“To forge ahead as a nation towards development and prosperity, we must break free of old binds.
“We must recalibrate our political calculations to where competence and fairness matters, more than reducible demographics,” Tinubu maintained.
This particular statement about competence could be rightly seen as more like adding salt to injury. It seemed very insulting to the Christian community in the north. Sen Kashim Shettima is not particular a spectacular character by any definition.
It was under his watch as the executive governor of Borno State that Chibok happened. He was never really known for exceptional leadership while in government, nor where there any visible landmarks he left behind after two-terms as governor.
The controversies surrounding the abduction of about 300 Chibok Girls, who are now Chibok mothers with the Boko Haram terrorist was never really satisfactorily explained to Nigerians.
In any case, a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the All Progressive Congress (APC) have since left the realm of political permutations, and now a political reality, and the nation have been given yet an additional a choice to ponder on come 2023.
Perhaps the voting pattern next February may be the only true answer to some of these questions. Clariform Newsdesk will continue to monitor this and other development towards the general elections, while assuring our readers of bringing them these development as they emerge.
