Opposition against the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday, grew as the Forum of Northern Christians reiterated its position on the same-faith ticket, saying it would not back down.The forum is headed by the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara.
Bola Tinubu, a Muslim emerged as the presidential candidate of the APC for the 2023 elections, while former governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, emerged as his running mate.This came on a day Governor of Delta State and Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, took a swipe at Bola Tinubu, over the controversy that has trailed the party’s Muslim-Muslim ticket.
Dogara met behind closed doors with Christian leaders from the 19 Northern states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, in Abuja in continuation of their consultations ahead of the 2023 general elections.It was gathered that aside the former speaker, others in attendance include former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Mr Babachir Lawal; an APC Senator from Adamawa State, Elisha Abbo; former Kogi State Deputy Governor, Simon Achuba and all state chairmen of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, from the 19 Northern states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Confirming the meeting in a tweet posted on his verified Twitter account, yesterday, Dogara wrote: “#NigeriaDecides2023: The fight for justice continues. Today (yesterday), we held a consultative meeting with Christian leaders from the 19 Northern States and the FCT on the pan-Nigerian platform to adopt in 2023.”The forum had recently convened a summit of Northern Christian Leaders in Abuja where they rejected the adoption of a Muslim-Muslim Presidential and Vice Presidential ticket by the ruling APC.
CAN Chairman in Kaduna State, Rev. John Hayab, said: “The meeting was well attended in person by all the CAN chairmen from the North except Katsina state.“We are saying it’s no going back on our stance against the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC.”Asked which political party the Northern Christian leaders have decided to throw their weight behind, Hayab said: “We will meet with leading Christian politicians across party lines to consult with them before deciding on our next line of action.“We will also wait for signals from the (CAN) national body. They will also point us on the way to go, but the Muslim-Muslim ticket is out of the equation.“What we had expected from the APC was for them to call the Church together and explain themselves rather than hiring impostors to impersonate genuine Christian leaders.”
Meanwhile, Governor Okowa tackled Tinubu and the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr Peter Obi, over their recent utterances, saying he does not believe in playing politics with religion..He said this during the Northern Christian Youth Assembly Summit in Abuja.The governor also condemned the idea of cyber-bullying by supporters of other presidential candidates, which he said won’t stop him from speaking the truth about the situation in the country.
His words: “I do not believe in the Muslim-Muslim ticket. The reason is that there is a diversity when it comes to that. Therefore, sticking to one faith is not a good thing to do particularly in a troubled nation as we are in today. It’s almost like going on to having the presidential candidate pick his vice presidential candidate from the north and picking the Vice Presidential candidate also from the North.“So, the only ticket that can work for our Nigeria is the ticket that is not trying to build itself to election victory to either the Muslim or Christian faith. “PDP will win the election because many people have keyed into this project. We are receiving decampees in droves.“When we talk about the future is for the youths, yes it is from today but the truth is that our youths, particularly youths leaders, must be in a position to have a clear understanding so that they can guide others aright.”
Alleged cyber-bullying
On alleged cyber-bullying by supporters of other political parties, Okowa said: “I did not speak up my mind to look down on anybody. But the truth is that Nigeria is so divided. Nigeria is insecure. We are going to see bullying in cyberspace in our country. I think that everybody should have the space and time to be able to think and make comments without being bullied. We need to do critical thinking and that is why we are gathered here today.”
Lamenting the myriad challenges rocking the nation as Nigerians prepare to elect a new set of leaders in 2023, the Delta governor said: “The situation in this country is very bad. Sometimes we do not understand how bad it is. But I know that it is not irredeemable.“The former Vice-President (Atiku) and I working with the party and working with Nigerians, believe that we can begin the rebuilding process but first we have to be able to rescue the nation by winning the elections.“The economy is so bad, that the education and the health system are so bad. We are crying for devolution of power, and in all these challenges, you don’t bring somebody who wants to learn on the job. Because if you do, so you drop him on the seat, and he gets overwhelmed by the challenges on the ground. We don’t want to return to 2015.”
Why Atiku picked Okowa as running mate over Wike, others — Ayu
Also speaking, the National Chairman of the PDP, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, explained that the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, picked Governor Okowa as his running mate above his Rivers counterpart, Nyesom Wike, and other nominees presented to him because of his (Okowa’s) humility and excellent performance in office.Ayu said: “We looked around and we thought we have to give not just a vice president that will assist him (Atiku) but we did our homework to select a man, who is highly educated, very humble, and who has done very well as a governor in his home state.“Okowa is the most qualified running mate. It is on his merit that he was selected by the party as the vice presidential candidate for Atiku Abubakar. I think Nigeria will be very lucky to have two such people who are committed to the development, who are detribalized and who believe in uniting this country.”
The PDP chairman, however, urged Nigerians to be wary of the APC, saying the ruling party performed poorly because they lacked a clear blueprint to turn around the fortunes of the country.He said: “Even if APC were to come back tomorrow and give you a Muslim-Christian ticket, your fate will be worse because they have no programme.“We have a president who is a Muslim, a vice president, who is a Christian, but they are not sensitive to the needs of the vast majority of the population.“We have about 28 ministers in the Northern part of the country. I think only two Christians, the rest 26 Muslims, or that. Is that not insensitive? The vice president, per se, cannot do everything.“Today, we are borrowing to pay salaries because of the mismanagement that has befallen this country. We have never had a situation where the security situation was so bad. I believe we can salvage this country. This country is drifting very dangerously. We can’t allow it to disintegrate.”
Urging Christian youths to take active part in the political activities leading to the 2023 elections, Ayu said: “What you are doing is a service to humanity. If you give them (Atiku and Okowa) your support and you mobilise the rest of the Nigerians to support, I believe we can salvage this country and make a difference.“As a Christian, I want to say that we believe a lot in prayer, but over the years, we also know that, if you pray and you don’t work, I don’t think God will just come down and make things happen. You need to act. And so why do we pray? We try as much as possible to act in a way that God will help us.”
