Aggrieved Northern APC Christians tell their supporters to vote for Obi/Baba-Ahmed

ALL Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has suffered a major setback after a group of aggrieved party members opted to support his rival Peter Obi in protest of his decision to go for a same faith ticket.

 

In June, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the former Lagos State governor,  emerged as the APC presidential candidate after coasting home in a landslide victory following the party's convention in Abuja. Following his victory, however, he laboured to select a running mate after publicly declaring that he will pick a Christian from the northeast geo-political zone as his deputy.

 

Eventually, after weeks of prevarication, Asiwaju Tinubu ended up selecting a fellow Muslim in the form of former Borno State governor Senator Shettima as his running mate. His choice has polarised the country as the Christian faithful feel highly marginalised, especially in the northeast and north central geo-political zones.

 

Unhappy with this choice, a group known as the Aggrieved Northern APC Christians has recommended that its members and supporters back former Anambra State governor Peter Obi for president. Standing as the Labour Party candidate, Governor Obi is a southern Christian and has picked Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, a northern Muslim as his running mate.

 

In a statement signed by one of its leaders, former secretary to the government of the federation, Babachir Lawal, the group said it came to the decision to support Governor Obi and his running mate after a painstaking review and analysis of the alternative tickets. Describing the APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket as satanic, the group said it is a deliberate and well-calculated plan to sow a seed of religious discord among Nigerians, adding that northerners are their intended target.

 

It advised against voting for the APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu whom it described as a renowned Yoruba-hegemonist who championed the establishment of a ministry of regional integration in each state of the southwest geo-political zone. Also, the group said it believes that the Obi/Datti ticket will give Nigeria a breath of fresh air and the greatest opportunity to redeem the country from the quagmire into which it has been plunged by a recurring group of self-centred reactionaries.

 

Mr Lawal said: "As one of the foremost critics of APC’s single-faith presidential ticket and also in difference to those who have patiently waited for our guidance as to where to pitch our tent, after a painstaking review and analysis of the alternative presidential tickets, we now wish to recommend the Obi/Datti presidential ticket. We wish to briefly narrate some few reasons among many why we have endorsed this ticket and commend it to all Nigerians of good conscience who desire justice, equity and a harmonious co-existence of all Nigerians across tribes, religion and geopolitical regions."

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