Victor EzejaFormer secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal has condemned the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), describing it as dead on arrival.
APC Presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Sunday announced his running mate, Kashim Shettima who is a former governor of Borno State and currently representing Borno South Senatorial District in the national assembly.
READ ALSO: 2023: Tinubu Picks Shettima As Running Mate
Lawal who said he supports the Tinubu’s candidacy and would not stand on his way to victory, described the choice of a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket as a disastrous error given the multi-religious nature of the country.
Lawal called on President Muhammadu Buhari to prevail on Tinubu to drop Senator Kashim Shettima as his running mate, if the APC must win the 2023 election.
In a statement signed by the former SGF, he said he felt it was his moral obligation to tell Tinubu the truth of the cosequences because by the action he has chosen to bring religion to the forefront and the Christians might revolt against him.
“I thought I will be able to avoid commenting on the disastrous error by my very good friend, Sen Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his choice of a running mate.
“I will be the very last person to stand in the way of my very good friend Tinubu’s path to the presidency. This is because since 2011 my consuming passion has been for him to succeed Buhari as President of Nigeria. It will not be true if I say that I did not see it coming.
“I have often read his body language, picked up snippets from several discussions with his lapdogs (some of whom, sadly are Christians but most of whom are moslems) and I have conveyed my reservations to them against the pitfalls of a moslem-moslem ticket towards which I sensed they were drifting.
“I had left him with the sole responsibility for his final decision arguing that in the end the consequences of the outcome of any bad decision will be his to bear. There might be some collateral damages though.
“And why Kashim Shetima? He is an overambitious man who has a Machiavellian bent and has lots of money with which to procure a preferred-candidate status among Tinubu’s lapdogs. And as we are beginning to see, to also procure bogus supporters especially from among the Christian community to help launder his no-so-good image.
“But as a popular proverb goes: ‘Those whom the gods want to destroy they first make mad’. It appears that the gods want to destroy the APC and its Presidential Candidate and have chosen the instrumentality of the northern Moslem governors and their super ambitious tool and Kashim Ibrahim for this purpose.
“Alhaji Kashim Shetima is a Greek gift from the Northern governors to Tinubu. I advise Bola to make sure Kashima’s two hands are always in his plain sight and empty.
True, based on the advise of his new friends, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has made his choice. And I am sure he thinks he is ready for the out come of that choice. He has chosen to bring religion to the front burner of Nigerian politics. And being a Muslim he has chosen to take sides with his own religion. For all he cares, Christians can go to blazes with their votes.
“But he must also be told that there will be consequences for this choice. Some of them are that Christians all over the country will revolt against the APC to put the chances of his election in serious jeopardy. It will also put the election of all Christians standing for elections in Christian dominated areas in jeopardy,” Lawal stated.
He observed that such could result in APC being a minority party in both the National and State Houses of Assembly.
“Now tell me which Christian will vote for APC with the following contraption: Moslem Presidential Candidate (Lagos), Moslem Vice Presidential Candidate (Borno), Moslem National Chairman (Nasarawa), Moslem Deputy National Chairman (Borno), Moslem President (Katsina); Moslem Senate President (Yobe); Moslem Speaker (Lagos); Moslem Deputy Speaker (Plateau) e.t.c.?
The former SGF alleged that the northern governors and some northern moslem elites may have persuaded Tinubu that they will never vote for a ticket that has a northern Christian on it, making him agreed with them.
He added “But if he (Tinubu) thinks a Moslem-Moslem ticket will win him the northern Muslim votes, he should have a rethink. They will massively vote for one of their sons because it is in their nature to do so. Buhari, their first son will not be on the ballot in 2023. Atiku their second son will be.
“Proof of a possible Islamic agenda was leaked when Governor Ganduje, the ‘Kadmul Islam’, gave advance notice that Tinubu had assured them he would be nominating a moslem as his running mate. For those who might not know, Governor Ganduje has a foundation called ‘Ganduje Foundation’ which purpose according to its website is to ‘provide selfless service to humanity and Islam’ but whose primary purpose it appears is the conversion of Christians to Islam.
“So if my very good friend Tinubu in a desperate bid to become President allows himself to made into a religious bigot or even a mujahideen, he is welcome. But it is a risk that will not play out positively for his presidential bid. But, were he to win and become President of Nigeria, it will be as a sectional President; an Islamic President. And he will surely face massive discontent and opposition even before taking off.
“Expecting Nigerians to ignore this crass insensitivity to the country’s diversity amounts to acceding to the perpetration of very grave injustice and discrimination against a huge segment of the society. No one who seeks to be president of Nigeria should ever deploy the tool of religious extremism and exclusivism as a tool to win elections. This is very very dangerous. And this is very sad.
According to the former SGF, Tinubu’s choice of a Muslim-Muslim ticket would inevitably make Christians begin to perceive an Islamic Republic agenda, hence their be anxious.
“But, baring any last minute change of mind, Bola has made his choice. He should be bluntly told that in this choice Nigerian Christians clearly see a pending Islamic Republic of Nigeria in its infancy and are right to be severely anxious. There is gloom among the Christian community all over the country since Tinubu announced Kashim Shetima as his running mate. Are the generality of the moslem ummah happy with this? The answer is a resounding NO.
“How then do we respond? The decision as to how to respond to this deliberately senseless act of provocation is both corporate to each religious group and also personal to each voter that love peace, and hate injustice.
“Christians want to continue to leave peacefully with their moslem neighbors at home, at school, at the work place, in the markets and on the streets as we have always done or desired to do. And I am sure Moslems share this view too. No one person’s ambition to rule over us should be allowed to set us apart and at war with one another.
“Bola Ahmed Tinubu, should be compelled upon by whoever can do so to rescind this decision. President Mohammed Buhari should exercise his powers as the Commander-in-Chief and as the APC Leader to revoke this nomination of a VP by Tinubu.”
He also called on the APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu to refuse signing the nomination forms if Tinubu do not rescind his decision about dropping Shettima.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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