₦airaland Forum

Details have emerged revealing the discussions between leaders of the Arewa Church under the aegis of the Pentecostal Bishops Forum of Northern Nigeria with the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Naija News earlier reported that Tinubu had met with the Bishops last Thursday at the APC Presidential Campaign Headquarters in Abuja over his decision to pick former governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, as his running mate.

Tinubu stated that only competence can resolve the political and socio-economic challenges bedeviling the nation.

He said he has always been a friend of the Christian community and he should be considered based on his track record, plans, and agenda for developing Nigeria.

A source at the meeting to Sunday Vanguard that most of those in attendance had rejected Tinubu’s decision to pick a fellow Muslim from the North, Senator Kashim Shettima, as running mate.

The insider said the Pentecostal bishops were meeting for the first time to engage the APC candidate on the rationale for his “divisive” decision as well as his plans for Christians in the North.

Three Important Questions Bishop Asked Tinubu
The source disclosed that they grilled Tinubu on three questions considered to be of fundamental concern to Christians in the North, but were not impressed with some explanations given.

The source said: “We were led to the meeting by the Deputy President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Archbishop John Praise, who made it clear from the onset that it was not an endorsement event, but a forum to listen to Asiwaju with a view to understanding why he paid deaf ears to the outcry against his party’s Muslim-Muslim ticket.

“To buttress his point and set the tone for the engagement, he quoted John 7:51 which reads, ‘’Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him find out what he has been doing?’’

“We asked Tinubu three burning questions agitating the minds of Christians in the North. First, we asked him: What are your plans for Christians in the North in light of your insistence on picking a Muslim vice-presidential candidate from our region?

“We also asked him to respond to the remarks by Shettima at the NBA Conference that he will oversee security while Tinubu will direct the economy. Finally, we asked the APC presidential candidate for his views on the incessant attacks on Christian communities in the North.”

APC Presidential Candidate’s Unconvincing Response
Multiples sources told Vanguard that Tinubu spoke of the Muslim-Muslim controversy in a bid to allay the fears of the Northern Christians.

One of the sources said: “For our first poser to him, Asiwaju said much, but to summarise his response, he simply told us he cannot talk about sharing a cake that has not been baked.

“His response to our second question was that the Constitution specified the roles and responsibilities of the President and his vice. So, there is no doubt about who will do what in the office if they win 2023.”

On the killing of Christians in the North and possible Islamisation, another source said Tinubu said he would not be part of such an extremist agenda, stating that he has not Islamised his immediate family and wouldn’t do so to over 200 million persons.

Another source added: “Some of us are not satisfied with his reasons for picking Senator Kashim Shettima as his running mate. He failed to convincingly justify the fact that in all the eight Northern states dominated by Christians there was no qualified, politically exposed and upright Christian fit for the office of the vice president of Nigeria.

“We believe that Tinubu himself, like most of us at the meeting, is at a loss on how to convince Christians that he will not sideline the Church.

“How can we work for a presidential candidate who appears to be already sidelining people that are not of his faith?”

Worldmap:
I thought it was said that this group is non-existent? Then why do what they say matter?

Jennifer663:
Good questions

Newton2024:
No spirit filled christian will vote Kleptomaniac-Terrorist ticket at this time in Nigeria's history when there's a good alternative in Peter Obi. You can't Islamise us again.

Newton2024:
No spirit filled christian will vote Kleptomaniac-Terrorist ticket at this time in Nigeria's history when there's a good alternative in Peter Obi. You can't Islamise us again.

Tinubu stated that only competence can resolve the political and socio-economic challenges bedeviling the nation.

floret23:
https://www./2022/09/25/muslim-muslim-ticket-three-important-questions-bishops-asked-tinubu-read-apc-presidential-candidate-response/amp/

floret23:
We Yoruba Christians will vote Peter Obi since Tinubu is on Muslim Muslim ticket. When MURIC told Yoruba Muslims not to vote Yoruba Christians, Tinubu supported MURIC on that, so we Yoruba Christians are not fools to vote muslim-terrorist ticket.

trutharena:
The solution to Nigeria's problems is Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a reformist, strategist, and mobilizer.