By Remi Adebayo

Ordinarily, the emergence of former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu should elicit a flip response of the presidency template as presently exists between President Muhammadu Buhari and his deputy, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

Buhari, a Moslem Northerner is being deputized by Osinbajo, a Southern Christian. Had another aspirant from other faith, other than Tinubu’s Islamic background emerged from the South, the hurdle faced today by Tinubu would not have surfaced, at least, the choice would have been limited to other criteria, but not religion.

Tinubu - born, professing and a practicing Moslem christened Ahmed who scaled through to win the presidential primary of the All Progress Congress, APC, has no record of faith-based bias.

Nigeria’s presidential system demands that Tinubu must pair with a running mate to complete his ticket, and the timeline compels that his decision must be taken swiftly ahead of the Friday, June 17 deadline as prescribed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

Tinubu’s victory at the primary has generated so much interest and concerns. The National Leader of the APC had while declaring to run for the president, said it was his lifelong ambition; and he has put no one in doubt that he was prepared when he went all out to cling the party’s ticket. The stakes are however higher for Tinubu having won the ruling party’s presidential ticket in his first attempt is now faced with another tough decision.

The running mate argument and same-faith hurdle

The APC presidential flagbearer is today faced with a tricky choice of who among the Northern politicians is best fit to run with him; and the argument is raised from political, faith-based and ordinary Nigerians. The sides to the coin are both delicate for Tinubu, whichever choice he will eventually make.

For long, even before the emergence of Tinubu, the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, had warned major political parties to resist the lure of same-faith presidential ticket; in its place the apex Christian body is demanding a fair religious representation that balances the two leading faiths at the presidency.

CAN, in a statement by its national secretary, Joseph Daramola, said a balance of practitioners of both religions should be considered in the choice of running mates of the presidential candidates.

“We do not subscribe to Christian/Christian ticket or Muslim/Muslim ticket. Politicians can talk politics but we stated our view long before now. Any party that tries same religion ticket will fail. This is not 1993.

“Even when we have joint Muslim/Christian ticket, the church still goes through hell. Only God knows the number of Christians that have been killed in the last seven years with no one apprehended or prosecuted.”

In fact, the same was re-echoed on Sunday, June 12, 2022 at the inter-denominational church service to commemorate the 2022 Democracy Day in Abuja.

Represented by the President, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Bishop Francis Wale Oke, the CAN president, Rev. Samson Supo Ayokunle restated, “I must sound this warning, please do not fly a Muslim-Muslim ticket. It would not fly. It will not stand. Rather, it would set the nation against each other.”

While this rages, a group of party men and women under the aegis of All Progressives Congress (APC) National Stakeholders added its voice to reject same-faith ticket for Tinubu, saying a Muslim-Muslim ticket will fuel more division in the country.

“Why we are conscious of the fact that religion should not be a determining factor in our leadership selection process, 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 these sensibilities 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. To do otherwise would be to further fuel what divides us and give room for mischief makers to take advantage of our differences.

“Nigeria is in dire need of good governance and this can come from either a Muslim leader or a Christian leader.

“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.”

Like Chief Moshood Abiola, the late politician and icon of the June 12 democratic struggle, Tinubu has also broken the political barrier as a Southern Muslim to stand a chance to be elected president; this has been championed by some concerned Muslims in the southwest.

Way back in 2021, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, Director of Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has been clamouring for a Yoruba Muslim president to succeed President Buhari. Akintola had argued that three Yoruba Christians have occupied Aso Rock villa since independence without a single Yoruba Muslim.

“It is an open secret that Yoruba Muslims who form the majority of the population in the South West are being denied their Allah-given fundamental human rights.

“This has led to complaints and court cases initiated by Muslims across Yorubaland over political and religious persecution. Yoruba Muslims are at the receiving end of deprivation of civil liberties. It is our contention that another Yoruba Christian presidency will usher in another opportunity for Christian hegemony and the marginalisation, stigmatisation, repression and persecution of Yoruba Muslims.

If this mindset is sustained, CAN is similarly laying the claim, that most of the victims of the current insecurity situations in the country are Christians using the recent Owo killing of worshippers at St. Francis Catholic Churc; the continued holding on of Leah Sharibu, the savage killing of Deborah Samuel in Sokoto, and recent abduction of the Methodist Prelate, His Eminence, Dr Samuel Kanu-Uche as case study.

Targeting the Northern votes with Muslim running mate

A close associate of the Jagaban of Borgu Kingdom, as Tinubu is fondly called, told AbujaCityJournal that Tinubu is worried about the decision to make at the moment.

“We all know that he is at home with everyone regardless of their religion. The decision is however tough for Asiwaju because he does not want to offend the Church by what may look like ignoring their concerns, and then lose their support. We are also worried that some of our brothers and sisters from the North may not give their support without a Muslim as running mate.”

Many, especially the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Stakeholders think otherwise; the body believes that winning the presidential election is a combined assignment of party members and supporters, and that every region has competent Muslims or Christians that can serve creditably, including the Christians from the North.

Ibrahim Dan-Halilu, veteran journalist and advocacy expert, in a post to his Facebook wall, wondered; “I want to understand the basis for pairing Tinubu with a Muslim running mate as some people are clamouring for? Have we ever had a Christian-Christian pair for a presidential race? Why does Northern Nigeria want to set this dangerous precedent? Is Boko Haram and banditry not enough challenges to grapple with?

“Why do we want to add another religious war that can consume us all? If there is no Northern Christian good enough to be trusted with our collective interests, go consult your elder statesmen, they will give you one. The late Premier Sir Ahmadu Bello, (Sardaunan Sokoto) has lived and worked with them. He built trust and confidence in them. They trusted him.

“If the present generation is acting differently, go ask yourselves, what has gone wrong with our relationship, or did we do wrong that our brothers are turning enemies? If you can find answers to this question, our problem is half solved.”

The Atiku Concern

Earlier before the APC presidential primary after former Vice President, Alh. Atiku Abubakar emerged the presidential candidate of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, narrative in the ruling party’s in its search for its candidate centred on who would be able to beat Atiku in the election.

Political observers said this was among the considerations that formed the last time bargaining that gave birth to Tinubu’s victory. The Northern APC Governors, were said to reason that beating Atiku, himself a highly formidable and experienced political tactician would require someone with proportional tact and war chest.

Atiku comes for Adamawa in the Northeast, a geopolitical zone where Tinubu’s running mate is being scouted from. While the region parades eminent APC chieftains in the likes of the serving Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and the Simon Lalong, who is serving out his last term as Plateau State governor, observers said being Christians may not be strong enough to checkmate Atiku in the region.

The Tinubu’s unsettling choice

He now must weigh the odds. Tinubu’s choice of a Muslim running mate will obviously send a signal to the Christian Community. And beyond perception, it may also cost the APC candidate electoral fortunes, not just in the Southeast or South South where he might not record significant success even with a Christian deputy on the ballot, but the North Central and Northeast Christians may show him cold shoulders; same way, although they can trust him as their own, the decision may cost Tinubu the votes of Christians with extreme views in the South.

Like Atiku, candidates of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP, Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and Mr. Peter Obi of Labour Party are expected to nominate deputies of different faith; choosing a Muslim running mate by Tinubu may open the party to protest votes from moderates; particularly from those asking if Tinubu who has been Muslim all his life is not Muslim enough for the North to be trusted to defend their faith, or if Christians from the North cannot be trusted to defend the Northern interest.

On the other hand, Tinubu whose wife, Oluremi, is an ordained pastor with the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, may have to reach out to the Church to build confidence towards eliminating the suspicion that may come from being a Muslim and why a Muslim may be considered as his deputy; this will help to guarantee the Christian support and that of the Muslim faithful in the North.

Whichever way, the time is short as the Friday, June 17 deadline races close and a decision must be made. Analysts believe that how Tinubu handles the aftermath of his choice will largely define how well he will be able to realise his lifelong ambition or if he will bid it farewell in 2023.

https://abujacityjournal.com/news.php?a=Tinubu%E2%80%99s-Running-Mate:-The-Southern-Muslim,-Northern-Christian-Identity-And-Voting-Exigencies

Muslim/Muslim ticket is D.B.A. Dead Before Arrival. Period.

In summary, Muslim Muslim Ticket is a bad choice