News Editor
Christians of Northern extraction have reaffirmed their total rejection of the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in next February, 2023 presidential election in which former Lagos State governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his erstwhile Borno counterpart, Senator Kashim Shettima will be running jointly.
In rejecting the ticket, the christian politicians described the ticket as a calculated agenda to politically and economically marginalise them.
They vowed to mobilize Christian voters against the ruling APC in the forthcoming general election.
The decision was taken in Abuja at the concluded APC Northern Christian Leaders Summit.
The meeting was attended by Christians politicians drawn from the Nineteen Northern States.
Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) who also chaired the event, Engr. Babachir Lawal, noted that the Muslim-Muslim ticket was an extension of the exclusionist agenda against Christians in the country.
Lawal warned that the measure has the tendency to disrupt the peace and social development of the country. He argued that the Muslim-Muslim ticket remains part of the subterranean plot to Islamise the country.
Babachir who gave a detailed reference of the marginalisation of Christians in the APC National Working Committee (NWC), Federal executive council (FEC), state and federal owned institutions of learnings in the country, charged Christians in not only the north but the entire country not to be deceived by the antics of the APC leadership on issue, stressing that matters of religion cannot be overlooked the politics of the country.
He said, “We are not the ones that started this fight. APC started it. They should be ready to carry this cross. We are open to discussion with whoever discuss with chrustain community in good faith.”
Joining forces on the same vein, former Speaker, House of Representatives who was the guest speaker, Yakubu Dogara dismissed as “hogwash” the argument that the choice of Shettima was based on consideration of competence rather than his religious leanings.
Dogara dismissed the argument that Christian votes would not count as that of the Muslims, said such argument lacks conviction.
The stout opposition of Northern Christians to the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket is in line with the thinking of many Nigerians, even of the Muslim faith.
Analysts see in the bold stance of the Christians, the level of opposition and challenges that lay before Tinubu and his running mate in the run-up to the election.
