Northern Christians say APC insensitive for fielding a Muslim-Muslim ticket
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Christians in the All Progressives Alliance (APC) up North have backed off campaigning for Bola Tinubu for choosing Kashim Shettima as presidential running mate, a Muslim duet which translates into a Taliban takeover of Nigeria.
They held an emergency meeting in Abuja where they warned of “serious and grave consequences” if Tinubu fails to change his Muslim-Muslim ticket and pick a Christian to reflect the composition of Nigeria.
A communique issued by the group, jointly signed by Chairman Doknan Sheni, a professor; and Secretary Ishaya Bauka, said Tinubu’s selection of a Muslim Deputy angers Northern Christians as it shows the APC is insensitive to their concerns.
The communique reads:
APC viewed as an Islamic party
“The Christian politicians in the 19 Northern states within APC met in Abuja to deliberate on the issue of the party’s Muslim-Muslim presidential and vice presidential candidates and the implications for the nation.
“The meeting decided as follows: that as Christians within APC, we cannot in all fairness to our consciences and our faith go to our various constituencies to campaign for a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“Nigeria is a multi-religious and constitutional democracy and NOT a theocracy. The current political atmosphere of the nation is different from what occurred in 1993 and therefore a Muslim-Muslim ticket is unacceptable.
“The selection of a Muslim vice presidential candidate portrayed insensitivity to the Christians in the nation.
“The fear of the Christians in the North and the nation, in general, is that the APC will be viewed as an Islamic party and that the Muslim-Muslim ticket was not possible in 2015, why should it be possible in 2023?
“More so, that we are apprehensive that the person picked might have had a hand in the Chibok girls’ saga and other terror activities.
“Muslim-Muslim ticket would undermine the election chances of Christians candidates in APC in the various states in the North.
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Muslims in all core positions in government
“The Christians in the North and the whole nation are highly aggravated, considering that the chairman of the party is a Muslim, deputy chairman (North) is a Muslim, the president of the Senate is a Muslim, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives are Muslims, and now both the presidential and vice-presidential candidates are Muslims,” the group reiterated, per reporting by Vanguard.
“Apart from this violating the Constitution [in] Section 14 Subsection 3, if this was to be reversed that all these were Christians, can any Muslim in the North be able to sell the APC presidential ticket to any Muslim Ummah?
“If this selection of a Muslim vice presidential candidate is not changed, there will be serious and grave consequences.
“At this moment of national peril, what should be paramount in Nigeria is unity and not infrastructure or economy. For without unity we cannot build.
“Any party or candidate that elevates the greed of a few above the needs of the many has no business running the affairs of Nigeria.”
APC brings itself into disrepute, Sheni says
Sheni also bared his mind to Vanguard in an interview, in which he said: “We Christians in the North are regarded as if we don’t exist. Many think that most Northerners are Muslims as if there are no Christians here.
“We have a heavy population of Christians and quite a lot are in APC. So when the flagbearer of APC Bola Tinubu decided to pick a Muslim as his vice presidential candidate, we reacted peacefully.
“We [had an emergency meeting] in Abuja and we decided to communicate to the general public to say that we are Christians in the North and we did not tell them to do a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“As you can see, some people have resigned from the APC in Delta and Rivers. We feel it is insensitive to bring our party to disrepute.
“We have three days to go. And the way forward is for the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, to act between now and Friday. If they cannot act, we will meet and take another decision.”
