By Lanre Oloyede
The decision of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, to pick a fellow Muslim, in the person of Senator Kashim Shettima, as his running mate for the 2023 general elections has continued to elicit mixed reactions from Nigerians.
Many Nigerians, especially members of opposition parties have criticised the ruling party over its Muslim-Muslim ticket, with some describing it as “terrible” and an indication of the party’s “insensitivity” to the current situation in the country.
Some critiques of the APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket choice have also said that the party is insensitive to Nigeria’s religious composition and argued that it is capable of igniting religious dichotomy in the country.
Nigerian Pilot gathered that some Governors on the platform of APC are said to be unhappy with the emergence of Ex-Borno Senator, Kashim Shettima as the running mate to APC Presidential flagbearer, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
It was learned that the Governors are scheduled to meet with President Buhari on Monday in Daura, to formally register their displeasure before deciding their next move.
The governors, a majority of them from the North West did not have issues with the choice of Shettima but how Tinubu ignored all the understanding they shared to announce the name.
The governors were said to have agreed with Tinubu that the unveiling would be done with them present, to show consent and agreement.
However, going ahead with the announcement as if they did not matter in the equation, more so that some of them were uncomfortable with the Muslim-Muslim idea, angered them.
Aside from the governors, Senator Abbo, from Adamawa, who was on some of the Tinubu support groups and committees, sent out a scathing message, in which he expressed his disappointment in Tinubu, for going against popular counsel to choose a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
But speaking on the choice of Senator Kissim Shettima as Vice Presidential Candidate of APC, a chieftain of the party, Mr Osita Okechukwu, described it as an excellent joint ticket.
Mr Okechukwu explained that it was an excellent choice because Shettima is a moderate Muslim adding that he is a transparent, man of action and capable as Asiwaju pointed out.
“He did well as governor of Borno State and did a good pick as a successor in the person of Professor Zulum.
“On the issue of Muslim-Muslim ticket, as a Christian one would had preferred Muslim-Christian ticket; however there was the likely input of Northern Governors who are staunch supporters of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
And as a veteran politician Asiwaju must had weighed all the options among which is competence, capability and reliability and sterling qualities must had guided his choice.
“The good news is that both are moderate Muslims, not ultra Muslims,” Okechukwu said.
Corroborating Okechukwu’s position, Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, described the choice of Senator Kashim Shettima as APC’s Vice Presidential candidate, as the wisest choice made by the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed.
Zulum stated this in a statement he personally signed, the details of which were released through his media office from Maiduguri.
He said: “Without the slightest doubt, HE Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has chosen a leader who has very deep understanding of our country and its complexities. There is hardly any tribe in any of Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT that Senator Kashim Shettima cannot knowledgeably speak about. He knows the social, cultural, religious, economic and political structure of virtually all the 36 States and the FCT.”
“Shettima is extremely patriotic. He believes so much in the unity of this country and he has proved it on a number of occasions.”
“Shettima’s administration (in which I am honoured to have served as rector and as commissioner) truly reflected the Nigerian configuration.
“Above everything else, Tinubu has chosen for Nigeria, an incoming Vice President, insha’Allah, with very deep knowledge not only of the Nigerian economy (challenges and prospects) but also of the world.”
In his reaction, another party chieftain and Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, described Senator Kashim Shetima as a worthy choice of a running mate for Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Mr Keyamo was of the opinion that Tinubu had made a great choice.
The minister who aired his view on Twitter, described Shettima as a “Quintessential banker and economist, suave gentleman and politician,” who is intellectually fertile and economically sound.
He further stated that that the former Borno governor is “inter-generationally mobile (he’s young, yet experienced), fiercely loyal, phenomenally complimentary to Bola Ahmed Tinubu”.
Also, the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, has listed three things that would happen to the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu for settling for a Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2023.
Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, the spokesman of NEF, said Christians would walk away from his ticket in 2023 while Muslims would vote for him.
According to Baba-Ahmed: “Now that BAT has decided on Muslim-Muslim, 3 things are possible:
– All Christians will walk away from his ticket.
– All Muslims will line up behind his ticket.
– It will not make any difference to his electoral fortunes.
Are the faiths of our leaders that important to how they lead?” He further queried.
Meanwhile, a Civil Society Organizations under the umbrella of Save Nigeria Development Initiative (SNDI) has faulted the choice running mate of APC presidential flagbearer, Senator Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, saying that the Muslim-Muslim ticket will ruin the party’s victory in the forthcoming election.
This was contained in a statement issued by its National Coordinator, Abdullahi Dahiru, in Abuja, on Monday
Dahiru said the ruling APC has yet again stumbled upon a political stone that is capable of frustrating and ruining her chances of victory at the coming polls as it settles for a substantive Muslim/Muslim ticket.
According to him, with the ongoing challenges of insecurity, ethnicity, and religious indifference, major political parties, and institution in Nigeria have remained sensitive to avoid losing out at the coming polls, but the ruling party considers otherwise.
He noted that the choice of Kashim Shetima is not in order and may have introduced an apocalypse for the party, saying that the peace of this nation is not negotiable therefore any candidate with a questionable history of security responses would be unhealthy for the country.
Abdullahi explained that Nigerians have described the decision taken by Tinubu as suicidal, stressing that it was made on displaced considerations.
The Christian Community in Nigeria have also reacted to the development with many of their stakeholders condemning it while others are in support.
Notable among them is the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Rev. Fr. Matthew Kukah, who in his reaction said that the presidential candidate of APC, Bola Tinubu, was free to pick whoever as his running mate ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The outspoken Catholic Bishop said Tinubu is free to pick whoever he wanted just as a coach is free to select the players on his team.
Kukah said it was up to Nigerians to decide if they want a Muslim-Muslim President and Vice-President or not.
He said, “This is what you call team selection and everybody will choose depending on what they think will give them a fair chance. So people will take responsibility for the choices they have made. For me, it is not something to lose sleep over.
“If people feel unhappy with the kind of choices that have been made, that is why we are democrats, you can’t force it. We outsiders cannot force a choice of any candidate. It is now left for you to look at the choices that have been made. And there is no guarantee that all Christians will vote for Christians and all Muslims will vote for Muslims.”
Also reacting to Tinubu’s declaration, the Christian Association of Nigeria said it was unfortunate that the APC candidate had failed to take the country’s religious diversity into consideration.
Before now, there had been warnings from CAN, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and Civil Society Organisations against fielding a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the 2023 presidential election.
In an interview, the dpokesman for the CAN President, Rev. Adebayo Oladeji, said making such a decision in a polarised country was a wrong move.
He stated that if having a pastor as the vice president of the country and Christian clerics and worshipers are being killed, the security of lives and properties of Christians under a Muslim-Muslim could not be guaranteed.
Oladeji, however, warned that Nigerians should be ready to face the consequences of their actions if they endorsed and vote for a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
He said, “We knew this was what he was going to do and we have warned against it. It is up to Nigerians to decide on what they want. You are all alive when we warned Buhari not to allow Muslims to dominate the security architecture of the country and he did it.
“I think we can see the way the criminals are operating with impunity. So, if Tinubu says he is opting for a Muslim-Muslim ticket in a polarised country like ours, if Nigerians endorse him and vote for him, whatever happens, Nigerians will face the consequences.
“We are raising our alarm, it is an irony that Buhari they regarded as an extremist when we raised an alarm to warn him against a Muslim-Muslim ticket, he heeded and opted for a Christian as his vice presidential candidate.”
On his part, Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Diocese, Ignatius Kaigama, said Nigeria was not ripe for a same faith Presidential ticket.
The cleric added, “When you decide that only one religion will produce the major actors, excluding others who will become like strangers, it would not be fair and just. For the sake of religious sensitivity in a place like Nigeria, it is good that we have a balance so that we become like one big family.”
Also, Rev fr. Mike Umoh, Director of Social Communication, Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, argued that the Muslim-Muslim ticket was insensitive.
“We have made our stance and made it clear. Muslim/Muslim ticket doesn’t make sense; it is unhealthy and insensitive for now,” Umoh stated.
The President, Arewa Christians and Indigenous Pastors Association, Luke Shehu, maintained that the APC would not get the votes of northern Christians.
He said, “If this is true, then believe me APC will not get the desired votes from the Northern Christians, the generality of Christians and they will lose the votes of the Hausa for simply being a Fulani man. This is because evidently, the Hausas have been provoked by the recent incessant attacks and kidnapping by the Fulani marauders.
“These recent developments have brought to their memory their experiences and lost since Danfodio and Ahmadu Bello.”
In the view of another clergy, Bishop Mohammed Naga, the Borno State CAN Chairman, the Christian community in Borno State has never had a better deal than under Shettima who governed the state between 2011 and 2019.
In what seems like great support for Shettima’s candidacy from a group outside his religion, Bishop Naga welcomed the selection of Senator Kashim Shettima, a former governor of the state, as the vice-presidential candidate of APC ahead of the 2023 elections.
Bishop Naga, in a statement on Monday, said the Christian community in Borno State has never had a better deal than under Shettima who governed the state between 2011 and 2019.
Naga, who described Shettima as a compassionate leader, said: “My brothers, those who are not from Borno State may not know, but you and I know better. In the history of Borno State, there is no Governor that has been fair to the Christian Community in this state as much as Governor Kashim Shettima. I am saying this in the presence of God Almighty and this is nothing but the truth. Governor Shettima, in the history of Borno, is the only Governor that has sponsored the highest number of Christian Pilgrims every year since 2011.
“I am speaking boldly without fear or favour because as CAN Chairman I do not receive salary or kobo from the Government or any institution, but the facts need to be told. This Governor has shown compassion to the Christian Community.
“For example, when Gwoza people were driven from their ancestral homes, they fled to Maiduguri, and the Governor personally came to CAN Centre in Jerusalem ward two times in June and July 2014. He gave N10 million for their upkeep at first instance, but the victims were not many. By the end of October 2014, the IDPs from Gwoza increased to 42,000 in that camp alone. Governor Shettima came again and gave another N10 million. He also gave an additional N5 million to Christians from Borno who fled to Cameroon to be returned home.
“He gave another N5 million to non-indigenes who fled to Cameroon to come back to Nigeria.
“The Governor even directed the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA to be supplying food directly to the IDPs under the Christian leadership. In fact, the Governor insisted that he wanted Christian IDPs to stay together with their Muslim counterparts in various designated IDP camps here in Maiduguri but we the leaders felt it wise to separate Christian IDPs to avoid friction between displaced persons dealing with trauma.
“Sincerely speaking as a Christian and a preacher, absolutely I have nothing to fear about Asiwaju’s picking a Muslim as his running mate because he’s not a religious bigot and I’m happy he has made his mind known to the public in the person of his preferred running mate.
“Seeing another Presidential candidate applauding him is a plus for him and supporters of Asiwaju. Congratulations to the awaiting president and vice president.”
