Barring any last minute change in plans and despite the furore over a single faith, joint ticket, the All Progressives Congress (APC) will, today, formally unveil its vice presidential candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima, to the public.
The party’s national organising secretary, Sulaiman Muhammad Argungu, made this known, Tuesday, on the party’s official WhatsApp platform accessible to journalists.
The unveiling will be witnessed by members of the National Executive Committee (NEC), Progressives Governors’ Forum, APC Caucus in the National Assembly, members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), presidential aspirants at the June Special National Convention and APC state chairmen, among others, at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.
The development put paid to speculations that the presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, would drop Shettima in deference to agitations by Christians and other well-meaning Nigerians opposed to the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the party.
APC Muslim youths have rejected the choice of Shettima, urging the party to replace him with a Christian without delay. Speaking at a press conference, yesterday, in Abuja, the Convener of the group, Abdullahi Saleh, said the Muslim-Muslim ticket was against the spirit of togetherness in the country.
Saleh said while it must be stated that there is a right to make decisions, such decisions must not be made to the collective detriment of the people that make up the country of Nigeria.
“As concerned stakeholders of APC in the 19 Northern states, we find it worrisome that such a decision could be taken without recourse to its implication on the electoral chances of the party and the attendant uproar such a decision could bring about in the country.
“It is also worrisome that of all the political parties, only the APC presented a Muslim-Muslim ticket. In our opinion, this is insensitive and a gross display of lack of respect for our Christian brothers and sisters and is morally indefensible.
“As a group, we wish to state that we reject the choice of Shettima as the vice presidential candidate of the APC. This decision is hinged on the need to ensure a balance in the presidential ticket of the APC, as it has been since the return of democracy in 1999,” he added.
ALSO, the Christian Association Nigeria (CAN) youth wing has said there is no way it will allow its members to vote for a Muslim-Muslim ticket. The chairman, of the North-central zone of the body, Owoyemi Alfred Olushola, who briefed journalists in Abuja, yesterday, said Christian youths had resolved never to support the idea.
He said: “We want to emphasise that this is not healthy for the highly diversified Nigerian space, especially in the face of growing and alarming insecurity in our nation. Any well-meaning presidential candidate will focus on an all-inclusive federal character.
“Consequently, the Nigerian Christian youths will not support or encourage any action or decision capable of further dividing and setting this nation on fire. Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket insults the sensitivity of Nigerians and the Christian youths are saying a big no.”
But in defence of the choice, the Tinubu Campaign Organisation (TCO), yesterday, restated that religion or ethnicity was far from the calculations of Tinubu in picking his running mate.
In a statement by its Director of Media & Communication, Bayo Onanuga, said if Asiwaju intended to cash in on ethnicity, he would have picked a running mate from the Northwest, which has the highest number of registered voters.
“If he wanted to appeal to the base instincts of religion, he would have also gone for a candidate in the Christian-dominated parts of Nigeria, but there was no such consideration. Instead, he picked a tested politician and technocrat from the minority Kanuri ethnic group in the Northeast.
“The factors at play were issues germane to confronting the multi-dimensional crisis our nation faces today: insecurity, economic problems, such as the unemployment crisis facing our youths.
“Nigerians have a lot to gain in having the two tested leaders at the helm of affairs. Naturally, some Nigerians with closet motives have failed to see the opportunities and possibilities the twin candidates present to our country at this time of difficult security, economic and political development, preferring to fan the embers of religion and ethnic divisions among their unsuspecting and vulnerable compatriots.
“The TCO hereby appeals to fellow Nigerians to embrace the best elements of our common purpose and reject the campaign and incitement against fellow citizens,” it stated.
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