APC northern Christians say they cannot support the party with its Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket

CHRISTIAN members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)  in the 19 states that make up northern states have revolted against the decision of the party's presidential candidate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to pick a Muslim running mate for next year's elections.

Last  month, Asiwaju Tinubu emerged as the APC presidential candidate after coasting home in a landslide victory following the party's convention in Abuja. Since then, he has laboured to select a running mate after publicly declaring that he will pick a Christian from the northeast geo-political zone as his deputy.

On Sunday, however, after weeks of prevarication, Asiwaju Tinubu ended up selecting a fellow Muslim in the form of the former Borno State governor Senator Kashim Shettima. His choice has polarised the country as the Christian faithful feel highly marginalised and already, several senior party members have left the APC over the matter.

APC Christians of northern extraction said they can no longer campaign for the party’s presidential candidate because of his choice of a Muslim running mate. In a communiqué jointly signed by Professor Doknan Sheni and General Ishaya Bauka, the group's chairman and secretary respectively, they explained that Asiwaju Tinubu’s selection of a Muslim running mate had portrayed the APC as a party that is insensitive to their yearnings.

Their communique read: “The Christian politicians in the 19 northern states within APC met in Abuja to deliberate on the issue of the party’s Muslim-Muslim president and vice president candidates and the implications for the nation. The meeting decided that as Christians within the 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 Moslem 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, we are apprehensive that the person picked might have had a hand in the Chibok girls’ saga and other terror activities. Also, a Muslim-Muslim ticket would undermine the election chances of Christians candidates in APC in the various states in the north.

“The Christians in the north and the whole nation are highly aggravated, considering that the chairman of the party is a Muslim, the 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.

“Apart from this violating the constitution 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 tickets 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, as 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.”