A group of party men and women under the aegis of All Progressives Congress (APC) National Stakeholders has kicked against calls by some partisans to pair a Muslim running mate with the presidential candidate of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The stakeholders said a Muslim-Muslim ticket will fuel more division in the country.
This was as APC stakeholders from the North East called on the party to cede the presidential running mate slot to the geopolitical zone in order to neutralize the threat posed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who is equally from the zone.
On its part, professionals in the APC have described as acceptable, the processes leading to the emergence of Tinubu at the recently concluded Special Convention and Presidential Primary of the party, saying it was time more professionals were appointed into positions of governance.
The APC stakeholders said they were deeply concerned about the raging Muslim-Muslim ticket controversy which has heated the polity in the last few days.
In a communique read by Engr. Aliyu Audu at the end of its meeting, the stakeholders said, “Why we are conscious of the fact that religion should not be a determining factor in our leadership selection process, the peculiar circumstance the nation finds herself calls for reflection in the decisions we take, so long as they bother on our national lives
“Today, the country is deeply divided within our fault lines of ethnicity and religion and we cannot afford to jettison these sensibilities in critical decision making. This is why we think that the All Progressives Congress must be guided by the sense of these sensibilities in the selection of the Vice Presidential Candidate of the party. To do otherwise would be to further fuel what divides us and give room for mischief makers to take advantage of our differences. Nigeria is in dire need of good governance and this can come from either a Muslim leader or a Christian leader.
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“But in the spirit of nationalism, justice and fairness which the northern governors demonstrated a few days ago, the leaders of the north on whose shoulder the emergence of the Vice Presidential candidate rests must also demonstrate this spirit by ensuring that the candidate comes from the Christian faith.
“The northern APC has in its fold capable individuals from the Christian faith with proven track record that can deliver just like anyone from the other faith. Their capability to deliver on the ideals of party aside, they also have the capacity to win elections for the party. Suffice to add that no individual wins elections for any political party, it is the collective of all and we are sure the APC can achieve this.
“The APC National Stakeholders therefore call on the APC to narrow her search of the Vice Presidential candidate of the party to a northern Christian whom we have in abundance. Doing this will ensure national inclusion, help to manage our differences and promote national unity”, the stakeholders stated.
Some northern APC leaders, including governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, have been strident in advocating for a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
On its part, the North-East APC Youth Stakeholders Forum said the zone has continually given bloc votes to the APC and supported candidates from other regions right from its inception.
The forum said “looking at the current pathetic situation that region is faced with due to insurgency and other social unrest, zoning the position of the Vice President to the North East will neutralize the PDP Presidential candidate and mobilize massive support from the region and other zones to ensure victory for Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“We therefore, appeal to our national, states, critical and non-critical stakeholders especially our father President Muhammadu Buhari and our candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led APC National Working Committee to hearken to our cry”, said its Chairman, Haruna Sardauna.
Also, Chairman, Board of Trustees of the APC Professionals Forum, Dr Nkem Okeke, said the forum endorses the democratic and transparent processes that produced Asiwaju Tinubu as APC’s Presidential Candidate and is willing to mobilize all professionals in the party to ensure that the winning streak that began in 2015 continues next year.
He said; “The Forum pledges our 100% support and commitment to massively mobilize for our candidate in the run up to the 2023 Presidential election.
“We urge our flag bearer to prioritize the roles and inclusion of professionals in his campaign strategy.
“The forum urges the party leadership to use the success of the primaries as a turning point to re-engineer APC as an ideological one, not just a platform to win elections.
“The Forum in partnership with the leadership of our party will convene retreats to re-evaluate our party’s journey ahead of the post- Buhari era.”
- The Vanguard