Opposition to the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken a different dimension with the northern Christian leaders of the party co-opting Muslim and other politicians from the region into adopting a pan-Nigerian platform that will engender unity, inclusiveness and a sense of belonging among Nigerians.
To achieve the purpose, APC Christian leaders led by a former speaker of the house of representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara and former secretary to the government of the federation, Mr. Babachir Lawal, resolved to work with their Muslim counterparts in the north to adopt one of the presidential candidates in a bid to defeat the same faith Muslim-Muslim arrangement.
Recall that some APC Christian leaders had opposed their party’s Bola Tinubu- Kashim Shettima Muslim-Muslim ticket insisting that the single faith ticket excluded northern Christians from occupying top positions in the party.
At the end of a meeting held in Abuja at the weekend, the political and religious leaders said in a communiqué signed by Dogara and a former deputy governor of Sokoto State, Mr. Mukhari Shagari that they resolved to take into cognisance the multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural configuration of Nigeria and its belief that a same faith ticket and voting along religious lines may trigger negative consequences for the country.
The resolution was contained in a statement jointly issued by Dogara and a former deputy governor of Sokoto State, Mr. Mukhari Shagari.
They said the communiqué was the outcome of their consultative meeting and dialogue between Northern APC Christian leaders and Northern Muslim political leaders.
It reads: “We have agreed to work together with a view to fostering unity, peace and national cohesion; to work together and jointly adopt a pan-Nigerian political platform that will engender unity, inclusiveness and a sense of belonging among the Nigerian citizenry.
“Conscious of the multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural configuration of Nigeria, we believe that a same faith ticket and voting along religious lines may trigger dangerous dimensions of negative consequences among our disparate peoples in ways that will hamper nation building.
“Consequently, we have agreed to channel our energies on matters that unite us more as a people instead of encouraging attacks on sensitive issues bordering on religion in the name of politics.
“In view of the above, we have agreed to set up a committee with the mandate to fashion out strategies for advancing the objectives set forth in this resolution.”
Some of those at the meeting included Messrs Boni Haruna, Abdulfatah Ahmed, Damishi Sango, Idris Ahmed Umar, Yomi Awoniyi, Simon Achuba, Ummara Kumalia and Baba Shehu Agaie.
Others are Air Marshal Monday Morgan (rtd), General Ishaya Bakut (rtd), Mohammed Sani Sidi, John Bawa, Dr. Iliya Mshelia, Sarah Allabeh-Nanpon, Leah Solomon, Mohammed Yakubu, Prof. Salamatu Machunga, Mela Nanghe (SAN), Reverend Joseph Hayab, Reverend Innocent Solomon, Reverend Habila Tengya, Haruna Mohammed and Gwamna Dimas.
Former governor of Katsina State, Ibrahim Shema, Senator Adamu Aliero, Capt. Idris Wada, Senator Umaru Tsauri, Imam Sani Ishaq and Sheik Halliru Maraya, who could not make it to the meeting, sent in their apologies and adopted all resolutions of the meeting.
