By ’Tunji Ajibade
July 10, 2022
The standard-bearer of the All Progressives Congress in the 2023 presidential election, Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, recently announced as his running mate the former governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shetima. He made the announcement this weekend while he was in Daura, Katsina State, on a courtesy visit to the President, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.)
This announcement has raised fresh debate in some quarters over a Muslim-Muslim ticket under the banner of APC, as interest groups criticize the development. As I had explained in the series in recent past, there is really nothing to criticize in this move by Tinubu if people would let political reality, rather than their religious emotions, lead them. Now that Tinubu has actually selected a Muslim as his running mate, there is the need to explain why it shouldn’t cause any worries for Nigerian from all religious backgrounds.
As already noted in the series, this same situation had occurred in 1993 and at the time all Nigerians happily voted for the then SDP presidential candidate, Alhaji M.K.O Abiola and Amb. Babagana Kingibe. As it would happen, Abiola, a Muslim from Nigeria’s south-west also selected a Muslim from the north-east as Tinubu has just done. One could therefore ask: If Nigerians did not worry about the religious orientation of the 1993 ticket, why should they worry about the 2023 ticket?
Some critics have said there was no Boko Haram or ISWAP in 1993. So, what does that imply? They are implying that only Christian civilian and military personnel can stop Boko Haram and ISWAP from attacking Nigerians. They are implying that the religion of members of Nigerian military forces is the main determinant in how terrorists are deterred. They are implying that civilian and military personnel who are not Christians deliberately choose to allow terrorists and bandits to kill people in the north-west of Nigeria, north-central, north-east, as well as south-west. They imply that civilian and military personnel who are from Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna etc. chose to let their brothers and sisters and father and mothers in those states get killed by bandits. This kind of argument that there was no Boko Haram or ISWAP in 1993 is not only ridiculous in its presentation but it is in the reasoning that brings it up as well.
I state here in response to such submission from critics that the fundamental challenges to our security arrangement are often overlooked, only for these critics to focus on primordial issues that have nothing to do with modern day way of providing security. I had stated some of the real challenges to our nation’s security in my other interventions, including the point that the challenges are systemic, so I won’t repeat them here. I shall only state that critics who base provision of adequate security on the religion of military personnel and that of the occupant of State House allow religious sentiments to overtake their sense of careful observation and judgment.
It is instructive to take note that the cacophony of noise over the kind of colour of the religion of the APC ticket comes from the organized groups who have an interest to protect, not the masses who simply want good governance and quality service. There are prominent individuals as well who use religion to get what they want across the land. Note that in Nigeria, religious affiliation can be the reason a lawyer gets a brief. It can be the reason a contractor gets a contract. Meanwhile this in itself doesn’t translate into good handling of court cases or a contract as experience has shown.
Equally, and as already noted in the past, the views of groups and these individuals do not actually reflect the honest and down-to- earth view of their followers. In the places where these groups claim they get their followerships, people are heard saying good governance is what they want, not the religion of the person who delivers it.
More than this, the political reality is that Tinubu cannot ignore the large proportion of northerners who dedicatedly vote and who are Muslims in the selection of his running mate. North, particularly the north-west Muslims, constitute the largest voting bloc in the nation. They need to be represented on the APC ticket. It’s the political reality. I had stated this too in this series. Tinubu’s selection of Shetima is even a good political move because in the north-east, the looming presence of the main opposition party, whose presidential standard-bearer is from the same zone, has been countered now that the APC running mate is from the area. Realitically, this zone is where part of the struggle for votes is, and not the north-west where the APC already controls many more states than the opposition party.
Also, the struggle with the opposition party is less in the south-west where the APC controls majority of the states. As things stand, the fate of the opposition party hangs in the balance in the south-east and south-south where voters are angry that the opposition party produced a standard-bearer of northern extraction rather than a southerner as the APC has done. In fact, many of the governors and interest groups in these two zones have been saying the opposition party wouldn’t get a vote from their areas. In the event, their best option is to vote the next major party that has a southern candidate. And that is the APC whose leaders are already in talks with some leaders of the south-south.
Also, a factor that douses the concerns some express over Muslim-Muslim ticket is that Tinubu, although a Muslim, had been the governor of Lagos State where he appointed many Christians into positions and he performed creditably well. In fact, since 2007 when he left office, his achievements remain what his successors have been building upon. He had also worked successfully for the emergence of many state governors who are Christians. In 2014, he personally chose and submitted the name of a Christian from the south-west, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, as the presidential running mate to Gen. Buhari. As such, Tinubu is not a politician any religious groups should worry about. He is a man who has worked with people across religions and tribes. It is worth noting that even as groups express worries over Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket none of them has accused of Tinubu of religious biases as they stridently did Buhari when he had a Christian as his running mate.
One of the worries of some of these groups is that a Muslim-Muslim ticket would largely put in positions of power people who are of one religion. Again, there’s nothing in Tinubu’s antecedent to suggest this. This is a politician who, as a governor, was focused on selecting for offices people who could deliver irrespective of their religious affiliations. It is worth pointing out that people from different religions were in his administration in Lagos State between 1999 and 2007. He selected them based on merit and this was responsible for his success in that era.
There is no reason to believe Tinunu would strive for anything less than success in a government that he heads. From his comments, even in his acceptance speech after the APC presidential primary, he has indicated that good quality governance for all Nigerians is what he would focus on. Without doubt, the best hands to assist him to achieve his dream for Nigeria is what he will be interested in, not using religion to divide Nigerians.
tunjioa@yahoo.com
