By Adeleye Kunle
The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has called the All Progressives Congress (APCMuslim-Muslim )’s ticket reprehensible and unacceptable.
According to TrackNews, the APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu’s choice of Kashim Shettima, a Muslim, as his running mate drew criticism from critical stakeholders, some APC members, and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).
In an interview with TrackNews on Thursday, Kukah said the ruling party’s Muslim-Muslim ticket is a setback to the country’s progress toward national integration.
He wondered whether Northern Muslims would accept a Christian-Christian ticket in a presidential election.
The popular cleric claims that the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket of the 1993 election was “exaggerated” to imply that Nigerians don’t care about religion.
“In 1983, when General Buhari became Head of State, he took Idiagbon,” Kukah explained. Unfortunately, Nigerians were overjoyed. Perhaps that is where we should have returned as a crime scene.
“It completely defied convention.” The whole issue was that two Muslims from the north of the same religion would govern Nigeria, but Nigerians agreed.
“I believe we exaggerated our interpretation of what happened in 1993 because we have this dubious assumption that Nigerians don’t care about religion.”
“However, moving forward, I have asked my Muslim friends, particularly those from northern Nigeria, a simple question: ‘Would Muslims in Nigeria or northern Nigeria be willing to make the same concession that Christians made in 1984 and 1993?”
“And now they’ve been asked to make the same concession.”
“You must then understand this in light of what has occurred over the last seven years.”
“When you look at the squandered opportunity; when you look at the way power has been distributed; when you look at the way this government has allocated opportunities to a broad spectrum of Nigerians against the backdrop of the crisis that we are currently in, ordinarily the least we should be discussing is whether our next president should be a Christian or a Muslim.”
“However, as a Christian, I can tell you unequivocally that the APC’s decision stunned me.”
“As a Christian, I find this completely repugnant.” It is not acceptable to me, but that is the APC’s decision as a party. Perhaps when the campaign begins, we will be able to hear what people have to say.”
