A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; former Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal and some Christian chieftains of the All Progressives Congress(APC), have vowed to sink the party for fielding a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket.
They made the threat at the ‘APC Northern Christian Leaders Summit’ in Abuja on Friday.
Lawal and Dogara, in their presentations at the event, urged northern Christians not to surrender to the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC, Daily Trust reports.
They and others who spoke urged Christians in the North to speak with one voice against the Tinubu-Shettima ticket.
Dogara, who said that APC was now looking like a ‘janjaweed’ party, also said Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu made a fatal error of judgement in his running mate choice as Nigeria of 2022 is not that of 1993.
“The truth must be told that anyone who is not bringing us together is consciously tearing us apart. When we talk about a Muslim-Muslim ticket, God forbid that we should be understood to be objecting to Muslims or that we don’t want Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to be president.
“It is not about Senator Kashim Shettima either, it is about what is right and what is wrong. It is about justice, fairness and equity. It is about Nigeria, its diversity and how it can be harnessed in an inclusive manner for the greater good of all of us.
“Be that as it may, some of us really wanted Asiwaju to be president because he has sacrificed much for our party, the APC and for what he represents to so many people. So, our position cannot be against Muslims or Islam. That fact cannot be denied in any way,” Dogara said.
He said the fact that some said Christians should not worry about a Muslim-Muslim ticket while a Muslim-Christian ticket give them sleepless nights should make people worry the more.
He described as “hogwash”, the claim that there is no Christian competent enough from the North to be a vice presidential candidate of the party.
Also speaking, Babachir Lawal said Nigerian Christians’ opposition to the APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 2023 general elections was genuine.
“Our opposition has some historical basis. There were times in the past when Christians produced the deputy governors in Kebbi, Niger and Kaduna states. Now, it is wholly Muslim-Muslim tickets.
“It is also now a recurring practice in the North, whereby any Christian traditional ruler that dies is replaced with a Muslim prince, albeit from the ruling family, even if the most qualified and preferred prince is a Christian. The recent case of Billiri chiefdom in Gombe State is still fresh in our minds,” he said.
Lawal also said the main purpose of this historical narrative was that for the APC, a Muslim-Muslim ticket had been a long term political strategy and not a one-off decision.
