From Esther Akaa, Lafia
Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has defended the Muslim-Muslim Presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying people should not complain since it was not the first time such a situation was in place in Nigeria.
Sule stated this on Channels Television, while commenting on the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s choice of Kashim Shettima as his running mate on Wednesday.
He said that majority of governors in the country rode on Christian-Christian tickets to power but nobody was complaining about it.
“This is not the first time that we have had a president and his number two of the same faith.
“All people need to do is to go back and look at the history of Nigeria. This also is not the first time that we have had elections where somebody from the south west will pick somebody from the north east both of the same faith. As a matter of fact, they won their elections,” he said.
However, the Nasarawa State Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Very Rev Sunday Emmah described the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC for the 2023 Presidential election as “inconsiderate,” especially to the Christians in the country.
Emmah, who stated this in a recent interview with The Voice in Lafia, said the choice of Shettima, who was unfortunate and should be revisited by the party.
According to him, both Muslims and Christians must learn to tolerant one another and carry everybody along for peace to reign in the country.
He noted that the CAN leadership in the state has began a state wide tour to sensitise the people on the need for them to register and get their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVC), in order to vote their preferred candidate, come 2023.
“The essence of our tour is to encourage Christian unity and unity is a panacea for development. We need to remind ourselves on the need to be one. We are aware that in an attempt to be one, there must be offences but we are encouraging the people of the state to be tolerant, forgiving and love one another, in spite of their religious differences.
“God has brought us together in one country called Nigeria, one state called Nasarawa and we found ourselves in close neighbourhood. So we encourage that oneness out of respect for each other’s religion.
“We also encourage our members, particularly the Christians to participate in the ongoing electioneering process, especially the forthcoming election. This is serious because any country that will develop must have credible leaders and when you blame the leaders, you also look at yourself who elected them,” he said.
He, therefore, called on the people of the state and country at large to register and get their voter’s card, follow the rules of elections given by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and be patriotic during and after the 2023 general elections.
