JUST IN: APC Stakeholders Decline Muslim-Muslim Presidential Ticket
National Stakeholders of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has urged the leadership of the party and the Governors under the platform of the party to ensure that the Vice-President slot of the party should be narrowed to a northern Christian.
This is coming amidst controversy of the Muslim-Muslim ticket, which has seemingly heated the polity in the last few days after the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the party's presidential flag-bearer.
The Convener of the APC National Stakeholders, Aliyu Audu, while speaking at a programme to commemorate the June 12 Democracy Day anniversary, said that the need to reject the urge to present another Muslim candidate as a running mate will ensure national inclusion and promote national unity.
In his words, “Why we are conscious of the fact that religion should not be a determining factor in our leadership selection proces. The peculiar circumstance the nation finds herself calls for reflection in the decisions we take, so long as they bother on our national lives.
“Today, the country is deeply divided within our fault lines of ethnicity and religion and we cannot afford to jettison this sensibility in critical decision making.
“This is why we think that the All Progressives Congress must be guided by the sense of these sensibilities in the selection of the Vice Presidential Candidate of the party."
Audu added that to do otherwise would be to further fuel what divides the masses and give room for mischief makers to take advantage of our differences.
He said Nigeria is in dire need of good governance, which can come from either a Muslim leader or a Christian leader.
The APC stakeholders convener also noted that while some interests wanted the north to pick the ticket so as to put the contest between two northerners, others advocated for the All Progressives Congress to pick her flag bearer from the south in the spirit of nationalism, justice and fairness.
“But in the spirit of nationalism, justice and fairness which the northern governors demonstrated a few days ago, the leaders of the north on whose shoulder the emergence of the Vice Presidential candidate rests must also demonstrate this spirit by ensuring that the candidate comes from the Christian faith.
“The northern APC has in its fold capable individuals from the Christian faith with proven track record that can deliver just like anyone from the other faith.
“Their capability to deliver on the ideals of the party aside, they also have the capacity to win elections for the party. Suffice to add that no individual wins elections for any political party, it is the collective of all and we are sure the APC can achieve this,” he said.