By Austine Agbo, Kaduna
Southern Kaduna People’s Union, (SOKAPU) has rejected the bid for Muslim-Muslim ticket in Kaduna State ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The Spokesperson of SOKAPU, Luka Binnyiyat on Tuesday said the southern Kaduna People will not support any political party, who has no respect for religion and ethnic value of Kaduna State.
Nigerian Pilot reports that the Kaduna guber flag bearer of the ruling All Progressive Congress, (APC) Senator Uba Sani, including the State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-rufai confirmed the nomination of the current Deputy Governor of the State, Dr. Hadiza Balarabe, as running mate, in their verified Facebook page, on Monday.
Reacting to the development, Luka said “SOKAPU has made it very clear that any political party, who does not respect the religious and ethnic diversity of Kaduna State, will not have the support of SOKAPU and by extension the southern Kaduna people.
“We believed that from both sides, the North and the south, there are very qualified Christians and Muslims that can be used as running mates of any Political Party.
“Kaduna state has some of the most highly exposed and advanced minds in Nigeria and to say that only one religion is qualified to produce the Governor are insultive, provocative, divisive, and as such does not promote our unity and diversity. We will guide our people against any party that produces a candidate of the same religion”, he said
The Spokesperson further stressed that: “If Governor Nasir El-rufai were a Governor of justice or inclusiveness, he knows that the Muslim population of Southern kaduna is far less than the Christian population.
“And if he is able to find a qualified Muslim in southern Kaduna, he can find one hundred of such qualified Christians in southern Kaduna. But because he wants to despise southern Kaduna and tell them that their votes amount to nothing, he decided to pick a Muslim who is a minority in southern Kaduna and made her a deputy Governor.
“We are not saying that we hate her but she knows that, if fairness is to be done to her region, a qualified Christian ought to be picked, if she is also interested in the sensitivity of her own people, because even in her family or lineage there are Christians along the line.
“So picking her again is even more insulting to us because after four years of tutelage under Governor El-rufai, she is not qualified to pick the gubernatorial ticket, and still made as second class, it is a demotion on her own part”, he added.
