By Emeka Okafor
A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, on Friday, said the choice by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to field a Muslim-Muslim ticket for 2023 presidential elections has been “a long-term political strategy and not a one-off decision”.
Lawal also said the Muslim-Muslim ticket is a calculated attempt to implement and fierce anti-Christian strategy in the political space so as to exclude them in the political space.
The former SGF, however, called on Nigerians not to vote for any ticket that is not mixed between Christians and Muslims during the 2023 elections.
He stressed that Muslim-Muslim ticket will be resisted with prayers and Permanent Voters Card (PVC) during the polls.
Speaking at the forum of APC Northern Christian Leaders Summit in Abuja, Lawal claimed there is an agenda to suppress and oppress the Northern Christians.
“We will protect ourselves. The PVC and our prayers will be our weapons of choice and we will massively deploy them in 2023.”
“The main purpose of this historical narrative is to let you know that for The APC, a Muslim-Muslim ticket has been a long-term political strategy and not a one-off decision.
“Thus, all this talk of competence as the reason for the choice of the Muslim VP is balderdash and diversionary. This is a calculated anti-Christian exclusion agenda that is being implemented.
“One might ask: why is the APC itself mute about our rejection of this Muslim-Muslim ticket? And why has none of the other perpetrators of this crisis reached out to Christians for a dialogue? Why are they instead hiring fake Bishops and taking church groups to further embarrass the Church? Why are they embarking on a vicious media war against CAN and the Church instead of seeking reconciliation? Truly, things are not adding up.
“We see this ticket as an assent to the current and continuing educational, economic and political marginalization of the Northern Nigerian Christians.
“This scenario is what we find in all agencies of governments in the north. Therefore, we view this Muslim-Muslim ticket as an extension of this practice of exclusion to the uppermost level of government.”
Recall that the APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu picked Kashim Shettima, the former governor of Borno, who is also a Muslim, as his running mate.
The choice has been greeted by stiff opposition particularly by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and APC Christian leaders from the North.
