Babachir Lawal: Justice, Equity will Decide Tinubu’s Fate on Muslim-Muslim Ticket in 2023

*Ticket divisive, say North-east elders 

*Adeyeye: Tinubu can’t Islamise Nigeria

Chuks Okocha, Alex Enumah and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Babachir Lawal, has declared that the God of justice and equity through the Nigerian voters will decide the victor between the Nigerian Christian and Bola Tinubu’s Muslim-Muslim ticket for APC in the 2023 presidential election.

This is coming as some elders from the North-east described the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as divisive and inimical to national unity.
But former Senate spokesperson, who is also the Coordinator of the South West Agenda for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for President, (SWAGA), Senator Dayo Adeyeye, has however allayed the fears in some quarters that Tinubu would Islamise Nigeria if elected next year with his Muslim running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima.
 But Lawal said that Tinubu by choosing a Muslim running mate has proved to be daring and uncaring for the Nigerian Christians in the coming general election and beyond.

The former SGF made the declaration yesterday in a fresh press statement in reaction to the final submission of a Muslim politician by Tinubu as his running mate in the 2023 presidential poll.
The statement obtained by THISDAY read in part “I did say it: “those the gods want to destroy, they first make mad”.
“Tinubu has thrown down the gauntlet. He has submitted Alhaji Kashim Shetima as his nominee. He has stood by his affirmation that he only requires Muslim votes to be president and for all he cares, Christians can all go to hell with their votes.
“This is his position and he has a right to it. I concede to him.
“We have picked up this gauntlet. The God of justice and equity through the Nigerian voter will decide the victor between the Nigerian Christian, Alhaji Tinubu and his party the APC.

“This is our country and we will not let Alhaji Ahmed Bola Tinubu relegate us, our children and our religion to second-class status in our own country.
“For us, this is an existential crisis. Our rights to justice and peaceful co-existence with all practitioners of other religions are under threat.
“A northern Nigerian Christian child deserves to be bequeathed a future in which he can aspire to be President or Vice President of Nigeria.
“The Bible supports our position and the Nigerian Constitution supports and even guarantees it.

“Come on Alhaji Tinubu! Come on APC!
“Again, “to your tents o Israel. ” The Bible records a time like this in history:
“1 Chronicles 12: 32:  “from the tribe of Issachar, there were 200 leaders of the tribe with their relatives. All these men understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take,” the statement said.

Lawal who is one of the closest allies of the APC’s presidential candidate and former Lagos State governor, Tinubu has consistently warned the APC and Tinubu against any attempt to adopt a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the coming election.
To demonstrate his vehement opposition, he has so far written four personal letters to Tinubu counselling him on the consequences of going for a Muslim-Muslim ticket at the expense of the Nigerian Christian in the Northern region.

Muslim-Muslim Ticket is Divisive, Say North-east Elders
 Some elders from North-east have described the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as divisive and inimical to national unity.
The North-east elders under the aegis of the Coalition of North East Elders for Peace and Development in a statement made available to THISDAY by its National Coordinator, Mr Zana Goni, yesterday, said it was ill-advised for anybody to put forth a Muslim-Muslim ticket at this point in the country.
The elders wondered why the presidential candidate of the APC would pick a Muslim-Muslim candidate in a secular state like Nigeria.
They called on Nigerians to resist the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC which they described as an evil and selfish agenda.
The elders called on Muslims to look beyond what they described as the lies of the APC, saying the hunger in the land and the threat of terrorism are no respecters of religion.

The North-east elders, frowned at the attacks being carried out on the facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the South-east, describing it as an evil attempt by sponsored terrorists outside the zone to deplete the South-east voting strength.
They insisted that Nigerians “must vote credible leaders with capacity and programme for our dear country.”
 “As the 2023 general election draws near, we the Coalition of North East Elders for Peace and Development have noted with concern some actions and statements by some political parties and actors in our democratic process.

“The latest being the impunity orchestrated by the ruling APC in settling for the same faith ticket in a multi-religious, multi-ethnic and above all, multi-cultural countries like Nigeria and the party’s defence of the absurd action in the face of widespread opposition to the abnormalities.
“As leaders who have not only monitored but also actively contributed to political developments in Nigeria for decades, we wish to categorically denounce the APC’s action which we view as inimical to the progress and growth of Nigeria.”

Tinubu Returned Lagos Mission Schools, Can’t Islamise Nigeria, Says Adeyeye
Meanwhile, the Coordinator of SWAGA, Adeyeye, has allayed the fears in some quarters that the APC presidential candidate would Islamise Nigeria.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja yesterday, Adeyeye dismissed such fears, describing them as unfounded.

He maintained that Tinubu who did not force his wife to become a Muslim would never initiate or support any policy that would make Nigeria, an Islamic State.
Adeyeye also recalled that the former governor of Lagos State, despite stiff resistance from stakeholders, returned all the missionary schools in the state, mostly owned by the Christians, to their original owners for better management.
The SWAGA Coordinator also went down memory lane to justify Tinubu’s choice of a fellow Muslim as running mate, claiming that great Nigerian leaders in the past did the same thing.

He said, “Most of the people that have been criticising the Muslim -Muslim ticket of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress are hammering on the issue of religion and not based on the competence, experience and educational qualifications of Senator Kashim Shettima.

“Some of the friends of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu who have been working hard to make him the next President of Nigeria also expressed disappointment that he chose a Muslim as his running mate. Some of them even went overboard in my view to say harsh words against the choice.
“Someone even described Asiwaju Tinubu’s decision as satanic. This is not correct because there is nothing satanic about it. I am a Christian and I want Nigerians to look at the matter from a very objective point of view.

“The idea of having people of similar faith in a joint ticket is not new to Nigerian politics.
“I recalled that in 1979, the Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a Christian picked Chief Phillip Umeadi, also a Christian from South-east Nigeria as his running mate to contest the presidential election on the platform of the defunct  Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). As of that time, nobody placed any serious emphasis on regionalism, ethnicity or religion.

“I also recollect that the running mate of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, the flagbearer of the NPP then was Professor  Ishaya Audu, a  Christian from northern Nigeria, who was former Vice Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University.
“The two leading nationalists of the era, who fought for Nigeria’s independence, did not put too much emphasis on religion. They picked people of similar faith with them as running mates.

“After the Second Republic was truncated with a military coup led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), who is our current president, he didn’t place too much emphasis on religion at that time when he appointed a fellow northern Muslim like him, the late General Tunde Idiagbon (rtd.), as his Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters. Idiagbon was the defacto second-in-command to Buhari.

“Before the Buhari-Idiagbon’s military rule, there was the General Yakubu Gowon (rtd.), who was head of state for nine years. He was a Christian from the North. His second in command was Vice Admiral Joseph Edet Akinwale Wey, a Christian from Lagos State.

“Fast forward to the defunct Third Republic, the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic party then, the late Chief Moshood Abiola, picked a fellow Muslim from the North, Ambassador Babangana Kingibe as his running mate when he had the options of choosing either some northern Christians who were part of his campaign including, Senator Jonathan Zwinginna, John Bala Takaya, Dan Suleiman, and the late Paschal Bafyau.
“However, Abiola, a Muslim from the South-west, picked a Muslim from the North and he won the freest, fairest and most credible election in Nigeria’s history, in 1993.”

Adeyeye argued that the most important thing for the candidate of a political party is to win the election using the right running mate who would complement his efforts by assisting him to achieve his aim.