Ganduje said: “I’m here to help our brother whom we want him to win the (Osun) election tomorrow. He is the only Muslim governor in the South-West so that’s why I came to this big mosque to ask them to vote for him tomorrow.”
By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, has doubled down on his promotion of Islam in Nigeria’s politics by charging Muslims in Osun to vote incumbent governor Gboyega Oyetola on the ground that he is the only Muslim governor in the South-West.
According to an audio tape published on the Facebook page of the BBC Hausa, Ganduje, made the comment at a mosque in Osun.
He also reiterated his position that the northern governors convinced the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu to pick a fellow Muslim as running mate.
When the BBC Hausa correspondent asked him if the decision would not divide Nigerians, Ganduje said it wouldn’t.
The majority of the comments on the BBC Hausa Facebook page by mainly persons bearing Muslim names, rebuked Ganduje for soliciting votes using religion. A few others hailed him for standing by Islam.
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Ganduje had said: “I’m here to help our brother whom we want him to win the (Osun) election tomorrow. According to reports and what is on ground, he is the only Muslim governor in the South-West so that’s why I came to this big mosque to ask them to vote for him tomorrow,” he said.
Ganduje added: “You know Ahmed Tinubu has been given opportunity to contest on the platform of APC and we advised him to pick a Muslim as his vice and he has done it greatly so that is why in this mighty mosque we have asked them to vote for Tinubu and they have agreed to all vote for Tinubu.”
The choice of Kashim Shettima as running mate for the 2023 presidential election has been described as a Greek gift of northern governors to Tinubu. The comment was made by the former secretary to the government of the federation, Babachir Lawal. He warned Tinubu to insists that Shettima’s hands always remain on plain sight and empty because the former Borno Governor is an overambitious man who has a Machiavellian bent.