Ahead of the formal announcement of substantive vice presidential candidate of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), the party has declared that it will prioritise competence ahead of religion or any other consideration.
The party had submitted a place holder’s name temporarily as a running mate to its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Various interest groups, including religious bodies and others, have expressed divergent opinions on the issue.
While some are insisting on the political desirability, others are of the view that a Muslim-Muslim ticket won’t be a fair decision.
A case for competence
But speaking with newsmen Sunday in Abuja, APC’s Deputy National Organising Secretary Nze Chidi Duru said the party would nominate a very competent and capable person to complement Tinubu’s strength and weakness.
According to Duru, APC has not taken a decision that it must come from a particular religion or tribe.
“On Muslim-Muslim joint ticket, I think we must not bicker about denomination of who eventually emerges as our vice president. What is clear is that the party will nominate a very competent and capable person that will complement the strength and weakness of our candidate.
“As it is today, what we have is a Muslim-Muslim joint ticket. Religion is no longer an issue for the party. I have said that we are looking for a capable and competent nationalist to complement our candidate.
“It may be that we are going to reap the benefit of 1993 where people will no longer talk about religion and tribe but those that will do well for us and lift the country and provide the required leadership that Nigeria deserves.
“All I want to say is that he will come from the Northeast, Northwest or North Central. This is the stand of the party for now. We will not bathe in the realm of congestion of whether he is the rightful candidate. He is capable in his own right,” Duru said.
When asked whether Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of Labour Party is a threat in 2023, Duru said: “Sowore is a threat, Atiku among other candidates are a threat to the APC. But what is important is that we are not complacent. APC understands that the party in power is a sitting duck waiting to be taken out.
“We also understand that what could change is for the opposition to take over power and the party in power becomes the opposition party. We will work hard. While other parties are struggling to resolve their crisis, APC has managed the various tendencies and it is, therefore, easy for us across the board to handle situations.”
‘Christians abound in the North’
But another APC chieftain and Director General Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu, said Tinubu has a wide range of areas in the North to look for a Christian running mate.
Okechukwu said there are Christians in Sokoto, Kebbi, Borno and many other states in the North to choose running mate from.
The VON boss also declared that Tinubu would win the presidential election by 60 percent.
He said: “The last I heard from our presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is that he is still searching and luckily, he has a wide variety of areas to search from, from River Benue up to the last point in Jibia, Dutse, Lake Chad boundary. So, if you are the one searching in a wide vast area where we have over 100 people with about 44 million voters which might go up to 50 million, you have a wide range of areas to search.
“Luckily for us, a lot of people will not know that even in Kebbi, Sokoto, there are Christians. Even in Borno, there are Christians. He has a wide range of areas to look for Christians. So Asiwaju has 60% of winning this election. We are in charge of 22 states of the federation. We have the majority in National and State Houses of Assembly – they are not going to betray him.
“Even for us in the South/east that has never been our stronghold on the day of election we are going there to protect our mandate. Otherwise, if I don’t defend it, did I get appointment before APC won presidential election?
“Whatever is my preference, if I want my office to remain, it means I must support Asiwaju, it’s applicable to those who are board members whether you are coming from Yenogoa or Dutse, so that is the power of incumbency.”
Group cautions
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Democracy Defence Watch (NDDW) Sunday warned on the danger of presenting a Muslim/Muslim ticket by the governing APC in the 2023 presidential election.
It said such development would not only be a threat to national stability but could also retard peace and security in Nigeria.
In a seven-page letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, a copy of which was obtained by Blueprint, the civic group said if the APC goes ahead with the Muslim/Muslim ticket agenda, it would only portray Nigeria as an Islamic and sectarian nation which will be ultimately resisted by the nation’s millions of practicing Christians, moderate and progressive Muslims and civic groups, ethno-cultural associations and enlightened members of the International community.
NDDW National Coordinator and National Secretary, Alhaji Ahmed Ibrahim Adamu, and Otunba Adeniji Niyi Adegoke respectively, sounded the caution in the letter titled ‘APC’s Muslim/Muslim ticket in Nigeria’s 2023 Elections: A Threat to National Stability, Regional Peace and Security.’
The group said it is worried more, particularly with the international dimension it is taking with a recent letter by five United States senators to the US Senate where they are calling for readmission of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) due to the worsening sectarian violence in the country.
“The US senators observed that ‘horrific acts of deadly violence have been committed against Nigerian Christians in recent weeks, including the massacre of church goers on Pentecost Sunday and the stoning of a Christian college student.
“Sadly, such violence has become all too familiar for Christians in Africa’s most populous country…Religious violence and intolerance directed toward Nigerian Christians has worsened in recent years. One report documented more than 4,650 cases of Nigerian Christians who were killed for their faith in 2021,” the body said.
They therefore called on President Buhari to direct the security forces to do the needful by advising the APC presidential candidate and the ruling party on the possible threats the action could pose to security in the country.
“It is pertinent to note the serious implications of the above with regards to security. This is especially when one rightly imagines that Christians will feel threatened with a Muslim/Muslim ticket, and may resort to pulpit preaching and mobilization of opinions across the Christendom.
“Civil society organisations and students would likely protest this destructive introduction into our polity in various manners which may constitute security concerns. However, it should be noted that the “original sin” is the adoption of a Muslim/Muslim ticket by the ruling APC, and not the reactions and responses that may follow it,” the group said.
The letter, copied to all heads of democratic and security institutions in Nigeria as well as other international concerns, also warned on the danger such political arrangement could cause on the continental security.
“The West African sub – regional, and indeed, African regional peace and security are basically predicated on the presumption of Nigeria’s political stability, or at least, the absence of any conflict that can overwhelm the Nigerian State. This is because there is nothing in the African Peace and Security Architecture that is designed to contain a conflict in Africa’s largest population of over 200 million people in a country that shares very porous borders with three sub – regions – West, Central and North Africa.
“In the first place, its humanitarian consequences are frightening to imagine – in the event of a civil war or armed conflict in Nigeria, there will be a complete sub – regional melt down in 72 hours, if just 5 percent of the Nigerian population crosses the borders. Its economic repercussions will be a total calamity across the entire sub regions of West and Central Africa. The security implication of weapons proliferation and explosion of the two deadly terrorist organizations currently based in Nigeria, into the rest of the entire continent of Africa, can only be better be imagined.
“We therefore implore you to use your good offices to weigh in on Sen Bola Ahmed Tinubu to thread with caution and refrain from his unyielding desire to foist on the nation a MUSLIM-MUSLIM ticket which if it succeeds will make the above tragic and destructive humanitarian quagmire a distinct possibility,” the NDDW further cautioned.
…HURIWA too
Sounding similar warning, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) said an APC Muslim-Muslim ticket was tantamount to playing with fire.
In a statement by its national coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA said the emergence of a Muslim-Muslim ticket presidency would further heighten the aggression against Christians by bandits and terrorists claiming allegiance to Islam.
HURIWA condemned the alleged plan insisting it is unconstitutional and violates Section 14 (3) and (4) and Section 318 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which specifically states that the principle of federal character should be reflected in the composition of the government and that no group, religious or ethnic, should dominate the other.
Onwubiko said: “The nomination will endanger national unity and will divide Nigeria irretrievably. If Tinubu goes on with a Muslim running mate, the APC should just forget about Nigeria because religious war will break out and Nigeria’s case will be worse than Somalia’s.”
Group roots for Lalong
Also, the National Coalition for Democracy, Peace and Unity has rejected APC’s planned bid for a Muslim-Muslim ticket, while urging Asiwaju Tinubu to pick Plateau state Governor Simon Lalong.
In a communiqué issued at the end of a one-day political summit held Sunday in Kaduna, NCDPU said it would only work with political parties and candidates with considerations for the diversity and regional interests of Nigeria.
It said topic of the summit, “The 2023 Presidential Elections; Need for a United and Peaceful Nigeria” was carefully selected to discuss the best approach to addressing the issues overheating the polity ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The communiqué jointly signed by the National Coordinator and Secretary, Comrade Ibrahim Ringim and Comrade Peter Emmanuel respectively, said: “As concerned democrats, we are deeply worried about the potential threats and political crisis that would be created if the ruling party resolved to consider a Muslim-Muslim ticket during the forthcoming 2023 presidential elections. The political summit was informed by the palpable tension stirred up by regional agitations and the impending crisis that the idea of Muslim-Muslim ticket could cause.
“After an exhaustive deliberation by the Executive Members on the way forward for a sustainable peace and progress of our dear country, we resolved that in the interest of national unity, it is good for the ruling APC and its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to pick a Christian running mate in the same manner the main opposition party, PDP has done. We are asking all political parties to strike a balance along religion and ethnicity for a united and peaceful coexistence.”
While endorsing Governor Lalong as Tinubu’s running mate, they said: “It is in public domain that Lalong has shown himself to be a unifier, who has managed the crises in Plateau very well that even the Muslims in the state are comfortable with him, evidence that he will no doubt be fair to all.”