Muslim-Muslim Ticket: Tinubu’s Achilles’ Heel, Atiku’s Stepping-stone
BY SIMON REEF MUSA
Barring last minute’s changes, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is set to announce a Muslim as his running mate for the 2023 presidential poll. The decision to nominate a Muslim candidate to deputise for him has long being foreclosed, following subterranean machinations played by Northern APC Governors who played crucial roles in zoning the presidential slot to the South.
In normal climes, religion is always unconnected with politics. However, since we live in a country where adherents of our major two faiths are more concerned in identifying with their religions, Tinubu’s resolution to nominate a fellow Muslim as his deputy is already causing rancour that has the potential of capsizing his dream of succeeding President Muhammadu Buhari in May 2023.
Early in the week, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) warned political parties not to toy with the idea of endorsing Muslim-Muslim ticket, stressing that towing such a path amounted to promoting religious bigotry. Shortly after CAN made its position known; Governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai of Kaduna State insisted that what was important in the choice of a running mate was competence and not religion.
With the deadline of Friday 17, June 2022, drawing closer for the submission of names for running mate position, it is now clear as the day that the APC is set fly a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket. If that happens, as it is set to happen, many are predicting hard days ahead for the man popularly referred to as BAT whose emergence as presidential candidate of the APC was fraught with difficulties after he delivered a speech in Abeokuta where he told his shocked audience that, but for God and his intervention, President Buhari would not have become president.
Let us grant the fact that competence, rather than religion, should be the yardstick for choosing a running mate. Is Governor el-Rufai saying that it is impossible to get a Christian with the requisite competence in the North that can be the running mate to the APC flag bearer? As someone who is experimenting with the Muslim-Muslim ticket in Kaduna State, what benefit has such an arrangement brought in terms of uniting diverse groups and reducing suspicion among members of various faiths?
For the Wazirin Adamawa and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, the predicament of Asiwaju is the platform upon which he hopes to wrest power. The former Customs officer, who has defected and re-defected many times to several parties in the course of pursuing his presidential dreams since 2007, may have his problems, but he is not faced with Tinubu’s conundrum of choosing a candidate of the same faith as a running mate. Atiku’s choice of a running mate now oscillates between Governors Nyesom Wike of Rivers and Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State. Adherents of religions find Atiku a leader who is sensitive in carrying all segments of the Nigerian society along.
Many, including yours sincerely, are asking what has changed since 2014 when key members of the APC kicked against Muslim-Muslim ticket. It is strange that el-Rufai, who was among those opposed to the same faith ticket, is now strongly in support of what he kicked against in 2014. Something strange is unraveling and it will take the future to understand why top guns of the party from the North are hell-bent on unleashing a proposal that is capable of tearing the country apart along religious divide. No matter how we look at it, the choice of a Muslim to serve as Tinubu’s deputy has the capacity of enthroning religious supremacy in a country walking on the cliff of threatening religious incineration.
As I pen this article on this Wednesday morning, our country is yet to be saved from the tenterhooks of religious tension, following the brutal killing of a female student Deborah Samuel in Sokoto over blasphemy. Two weeks ago, the same storm of blasphemy ripped through our nation’s capital, claiming a vigilante member, Ahmad Usman, on account of blasphemy. Few hours ago, there was a report that three were yesterday Tuesday charged to court over the killing of a Lagos sex worker in April over possession of the Holy Qur’an; an offence termed blasphemy by her accusers that were her customers. While elements of Boko Haram have not denied claims that their ultimate dream is to ensure Islam becomes a state religion in Nigeria, their distant cousins in the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) are leaving on their trail massive destruction of communities and deaths.
These absurd and strange happenings where life has become short and brutish have made it imperative that all segments of the Nigerian society be carried along. That a Christian and a Pentecostal pastor, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, is the vice president has not in any way insulated Christian communities from incessant attacks unleashed by Boko Haram and ISWAP. To pretend that religion does not matter and look the other way when one religion is favoured leads to grave consequences. Allowing or threatening Tinubu to choose a Muslim as his deputy is a direct assault on his chances of emerging as Nigeria’s next president.
Let me add here that I am in support of any ticket that can improve our country’s fortunes. I am angry at how politicians are resorting to religious sentiments to ignite destructive passion in order to drill a hole of disunity among us. For me, I do not give a damn if an Atheist/Atheist ticket can salvage our country. What we need now, more than ever before, is carrying every segment of our traumatised society along in order to heal our hurting nation.
Video and audio clips of preachers calling on Muslims not to elect infidels as leaders have made it to many social media platforms. Some of these preachers have warned against parties nominating Christians as running mates to Muslim candidates. Those claiming that religion should not be taken as a factor in choosing a running mate are inveterate hypocrites. They are yet to explain to their fellow citizens what has caused their change of heart to make them support a Muslim-Muslim ticket?
If Tinubu eventually succumbs to pressure and nominate a Muslim as his running mate, he is bound to confront questions that will be difficult to answer. While I totally agree that religion is personal and should not be an issue, we live in a nation where the state has failed and citizens are more prone to have confidence in leaders that share the same faith. By endorsing the Muslim-Muslim ticket, the APC is simply toying with its chances of victory in 2023.
The Jagaban Borgu ought to be told without equivocation that the choice of a running mate will determine how far he will go in the race to succeed President Buhari. If he decides to nominate a Northerner of the same faith, his choice may deprive him of Christians’ votes who may feel psychologically alienated. Once that happens, he will be a victim of a wrong choice foisted by those who know the truth but have chosen to embrace falsehood for some inscrutable reasons.
While the former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, who has tremendous Christian followership, has advised Tinubu to exercise caution in the choice of a running mate, he adds that if it becomes unavoidable to nominate a Muslim candidate as a deputy to the APC presidential candidate, then, such choice should be restricted to liberal Muslims like Governors Bello Matawalle, Babagana Zulum, Mai Mala Buni, Yahaya Bello, Sani Bello and Senate President Ahmad Lawan, among others.
I strongly predict that Nigerian Christendom may rise against Tinubu’s lifelong presidential dream if he demonstrates gross insensitivity to religion by denigrating the Christian populace. In the words of a veteran retired media colleague, Shittu Ahmed Obassa on his Facebook wall: Sentiments aside, Muslim-Muslim ticket looks beautiful in permutation but in practical reality a leeway to defeat a presidential candidate in a fragile society like ours.
The PDP has less worry in confronting the monster of this religious dilemma as Atiku, its presidential candidate, is to nominate a Christian running mate. If the former Lagos State governor refuses to deal wisely with the choice of a running mate, Atiku’s camp stands to gain. Let BAT knows that Atiku, being a Muslim Northerner, has his followers intact. Any attempt to relegate the Christian populace to nothingness will only make them migrate to either the PDP or the Labour Party where the popularity of Mr. Peter Obi is frighteningly soaring. Whether such popularity will metamorphose into votes is yet to be ascertained.
If caution is applied in the choice of a running mate, Tinubu stands the chance of realising his presidential ambition. However, if he allows banana peels thrown his path in the name Muslim-Muslim ticket to hold sway, then, he risks embarking on a futile trip to the corridor of power. In less than 48 hours from now, the APC presidential candidate must come up with a foolproof plan to either choose a Christian or work extra hard to convince them that they matter in politics. Having scaled through the hurdle of primary election, Asiwaju’s path to realising his presidential dream is bumpy and encrusted with landmines.
