“El-Rufai and others in the APC already decided that Tinubu’s VP will be a Muslim. They agreed to this even before the APC primaries.- Deji Adeyanju
“El-Rufai and others in the APC already decided that Tinubu’s VP will be a Muslim. They agreed to this even before the APC primaries.- Deji Adeyanju
Tinubu set to have a Muslim running mate as El-Rufai, Fani-Kayode and some other APC members approve
Recall that the public debate over possibility of the ruling party fielding a Muslim-Muslim ticket has dominated the public conversation lately. A Socio-political activist and commentator, Deji Adeyanju, has however accused the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, and the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), of making plans to pick a Muslim as the running mate to its presidential flag bearer in the 2023 elections, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Adeyanju’s alarm came following comments credited to El-Rufai where he was quoted as saying there was nothing wrong in the party fielding two Muslims as he had done the same in his state and won the governorship elections in 2015 and 2019 successfully.
In a post on his Facebook page on Friday, Adeyanju alleged that El-Rufai and other members of the APC had already agreed that Tinubu’s running mate should be a Muslim, claiming that the agreement was reached even before the APC presidential primary election.
The rights activist noted that those behind the plan have also concluded plans to start nationwide propaganda that religion does not matter when it comes to elections in the country, using social media to massively mobilize Nigerians that religion cannot play a role in picking Tinubu’s running mate.
Former Minister of Aviation, Fani-Kayode also, said he would support the All Progressives Congress, APC Presidential flag bearer, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, should the party settle for a Muslim running-mate.
Fani-Kayode, an APC chieftain, while speaking on the issue on Channels TV’s political show, Politics Today, maintained that religion could not be ruled out totally in the Nigerian politics.Fani-Koyode stated that it would be a “very big mistake” to suggest that a Muslim-Muslim ticket should not be an issue for anybody.
He said, “It’s an issue and we will have to explain and defend to the wider population of the Nigerian people if we choose to go that way. I am not saying I’m against it. If that’s what the candidate wants, we will stand by him and defend him. “However, we need to defend it. We can’t just say religion has no place in the politics of today. It certainly does, especially where 50 Christians were slaughtered in a Church in Owo the other day. In Southern Kaduna the other day, a number of 34 Christians were slaughtered,” he added.
The APC chieftain expressed worry that, in the last few years, Christians and Muslims were being slaughtered all over the country in the name of religion.“We have a Islamist revolt that is to say ISWAP on the one hand, Bokoharam on the other and so many herdsmen killings and these people happened not to be the real Muslims, but pretending to Muslims, because the real Muslims do that kind of thing.
Fani-Kayode, who noted that these were facts that could not be dismissed, however, said he would support the presidential candidate should he (Asiwaju Bola Tinubu should) decide to pick a Muslim runnig-mate.
“Let’s just hope he reasons it out carefully and chooses the right candidate to run with him,” he said.
While Tinubu intensifies consultation on choice of running-mate, other names that have been listed as likely running-mate for the APC presidential candidates are the Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu; Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai; Kano State Governor, Abdulahi Ganduje; Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Gida Mustapha and Malam Kashim Ibrahim-Imam.