Former secretary to the government of the federation, Mr. Babachir Lawal, has said that decision of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to adopt Muslim-Muslim ticket has been a long term political strategy and not a one-off decision.
Recall that the party’s presidential candidate, Mr. Bola Tinubu who is Muslim of southwest extraction, has picked a northern Mulsim, Mr. Kashim Shettima as his running mate for the 2023 election.
Tinubu’s choice is against the run of events and it has caused furore in the polity, especially among Christians who feel that they have been targeted for exclusion in the scheme of things.
However, Tinubu has based his choice on “competence”; a comment which has made many to ask is there is no Christian in the entire 19 northern states who is competent enough to fit the bill of a running mate to the APC presidential candidate.
Speaking yesterday at the APC Northern Christian Leaders Summit held in Abuja under the theme ‘Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people’, Lawal exonerated Christians from bringing religion into Nigerian politics.
He told the APC to be ready for the consequences of a same faith ticket in 2023.
He described all the talk about competence as the reason for the choice of the Muslim vice presidential candidate as “balderdash and diversionary” adding that it is a “calculated anti-Christian exclusion agenda that is being implemented.”
“…A Muslim-Muslim ticket has been a long term political strategy and not a one-off decision. Thus, all these talk of competence as the reason for the choice of the Muslim VP is balderdash and diversionary. This is a calculated anti-Christian exclusion agenda that is being implemented.
“One might ask: why is the APC itself mute about our rejection of this Muslim-Muslim ticket? And why has none of the other perpetrators of this crisis reached out to Christians for a dialogue? Why are they instead hiring fake Bishops and take church groups to further embarrass the Church? Why are they embarking on a vicious media war against CAN and the Church instead of seeking reconciliation? Truly, things are not adding up,” he said.
He said blaming Christians and heaping insults on Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) will not get APC anywhere.
He said “the PVC and prayers will be our weapon of choice and we will mercifully deploy them in 2023.”
Lawal also said the agenda of Muslim-Muslim ticket is just unfolding and Christians will resist it.
“We will not give up until we get Justice. I have heard friends and colleagues within and even outside the APC express some shock and even disbelieve over our reaction to the APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 2023 general elections.
“Our opposition has some historical basis. There were times in the past when Christians produced the deputy governors in Kebbi, Niger and Kaduna states. Now it is wholly Muslim-Muslim tickets. It is worth noting that all these are happening in APC-controlled states. They are threatening to do likewise in Gombe, Kogi and Adamawa States.
“It is also now a recurring practice in the north, whereby any Christian traditional ruler that dies is replaced with a Muslim prince albeit from the ruling family even if the most qualified and preferred prince is a Christian. The recent case of Billiri Chiefdom in Gombe State is still fresh in our minds.
“Proof of its anti-Christian agenda is that our party itself has completely eliminated northern Christians from its National Working Committee (NWC) and National Executive Council (NEC). All our protestations as party members have been completely ignored by the party leadership. But as members of the APC, we have the right to continue to express our indignation at these happenings and will not give up until we secure the justice that is due us,” he said.
On why the northern Nigerian Christians are opposed to the same-faith ticket, Lawal provided proofs that it is aimed at permanent marginalisation of Christians in that part of the country.
“We see this ticket as an assent to the current and continuing educational, economic and political marginalisation of the Northern Nigerian Christians,” he added.
Lawal reeled out employment data in tertiary institutions based in the North alone, both federal and state-owned universities, polytechnics and colleges of education that are skewed towards the Christians.
“Federal universities vice chancellors 28. Muslims 23, Christians 5.
“State universities vice chancellors 22. Muslims 17, Christians 5.
“Federal polytechnics rectors 21. Muslims 18, Christians 3.
“State polytechnics rectors 20. Muslims 16, Christians 4.
“Federal colleges of education provosts 23. Muslims 22 Christian 1.
“State colleges of education provosts 31. Muslims 24, Christians 7.
“Of course, it goes without saying that employment to all other positions from the Registrar down to the cleaner in these institutions will be replicated in a similar manner.
“This scenario is what we find in all agencies of governments in the north. Therefore, we view this Muslim-Muslim ticket as an extension of this practice of exclusion to the uppermost level of government.
“Christians all over the country see this Muslim-Muslim ticket as a deliberate and premeditated attempt to introduce and firmly entrench religion into the politics of this country. This, of course, will lead to further disharmony in the hitherto fragile coexistence of the Nigerian society, disrupt peace and hamper both social and economic development of the country.
“Christians and indeed most enlightened Nigerians are at a loss as to why people that intend to govern a country with our kind of diversity would choose this path to power. This is very divisive and must be rejected by all patriotic Nigerians.
“Implied in this ticket is the insinuation that northern Muslims are not willing to vote for a ticket that has a Christian on it and on which they are not represented. It is our belief that northern Muslims would have seen the Justice in a Muslim-Christian ticket and would have given it their overwhelming support had the party been inclined to do so.
“A corollary to this mindset is that Christians should also not vote for a ticket in which they are not accommodated. Unfortunately, this is the message we get loud and clear from this Muslim-Muslim ticket. This is truly a wakeup call for all Nigerian Christians. We didn’t start this religious politics, APC and its candidates did; so all of us should take note and act as appropriate.
“So our dear APC colleagues spare us these sanctimonious lectures on “competence” and the cliché “religion of the candidates does not matter. The truth is that the 2023 presidential election will be all about religion, and sadly, you started it; religion does matter in this context, so be ready for the consequences.
“It is important to reiterate that we Nigerian Christians want to live in peace and harmony with all practitioners of other religions. We want to enjoy social and economic developments like other parts of the world, but without peace, justice and religious harmony, this is not possible.
“On our part, we neither seek to oppress nor dominate any one or any religion. But we will also resist any one trying to discriminate against us and our religion. We were not the ones that started this fight. The APC started it and must be ready to carry the cross it has created. Blaming Christian’s and heaping insults on CAN will take them nowhere.
“For, how do they expect Christians to keep silent when a northern state governor publicly states that they pressured Tinubu to get a northern Muslim VP because they did not believe him to be a good Muslim? Is the VP going to be the National Deputy Imam? How do they expect us to keep silent when another northern state governor goes to Osun State and urges them to vote for someone just because he is a Muslim? Was he there for election campaign or “dawah”? What can be a better example of religion in politics than demonstrated by these governors?
He said there is a clear agenda to politically, religiously, and economically suppress and oppress the northern Christians.
“But we are up to the task. We will protect ourselves. The PVC and our prayers will be our weapons of choice and we will massively deploy them in 2023.
“But while we are ready to battle this politics of exclusion and oppression, we are open to discussions with anyone who wants to engage with us in good faith.
“As I always do, want to end with this quotation from Romans 8:31: “What then shall we say in response to these things.
“May God bless and reward all our collective efforts at seeking to live in peace with one another in Nigeria, our blessed country,” he added.
