A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has warned that the party will lose several states in 2023 if it continues with its ‘Muslim-Muslim’ Ticket.
Leader of Christian members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the 19 states of the North, Professor Doknan Sheni on Thursday explained that the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Kashim Shettima Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket of the party will lead to losses in the upcoming National Assembly and Gubernatorial elections.
Professor Sheni strongly opposed the ticket in a communique issued to newsmen.
“We are concerned that if we do not speak out now, and then a political/religious crossfire occurs, we may end up like Lebanon. God forbid. We don’t want a religious war in Nigeria. We already fought a civil war, now people are suffering economic issues. Presently; people are suffering various types of issues in the country. Why do we choose to add religion on top of our politics?”
“Unfortunately, Tinubu was convinced to pick a Muslim running mate. We are members of the APC. With the development, our party may lose the election. We are concerned as Christians in the North because if the Christians totally boycott APC, the implication is that our other aspirants or candidates at the Houses of Assembly, governorship, and National Assembly would all lose elections even in areas where they would have won convincingly because there are dominant Christian votes. If those Christians decide to migrate to other parties, our party will lose and we will become the opposition just because of religious politics.”
“Our party has a very bad image among the Christians. They look at us as an Islamic party. Look at the security structure, they are taken by Muslims. Look at our party, the current president is a Muslim, and the party chairman is a Muslim. Every officer of the party is a Muslim except one who is an assistant secretary, others are all Muslims. Does it mean Christians don’t exist in the North? That is discrimination.”
“On Tinubu’s promise to be fair to all, if elected, he said: “ Why can’t he be fair now? Why is he waiting to be fair later on? Do you know the implication of that? President Muhammadu Buhari is a Muslim, he ruled for eight years, after him, if Asiwaju emerges, he is a Muslim, he would rule for eight years. When power comes back to the North, it will be a Muslim ruling for another eight years. That means in the next 24 years, we would only have Muslim presidents of Nigeria.”
