By Omoniyi Salaudeen
Dr Tunji Abayomi is the pro-chancellor of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba, Ondo State.
In this interview, he bared his mind on the role of religion in the nomination of a running mate for the presidential candidates of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
According to him, the opportunity the APC now presents for the actualisation of power shift in the coming 2023 general elections may elude the South if the people reject Muslim-Muslim ticket.
Looking at the intrigues that culminated in the emergence of Tinubu as the presidential candidate of your party-the All Progress Congress (APC), would you say the crisis of confidence within the National Working Committee (NWC) has been finally laid to rest?
I think the crisis of confidence in the party has been resolved by the delegates. Adamu could not have successfully imposed a consensus candidate on the party because both the Electoral Act and the constitution of the APC made it very clear that without the consent of the aspirants or delegates you cannot have a consensus candidate. The two constitutions are strict in ensuring that there is no imposition. So, even if it was the wish of Adamu as the chairman of the party, his interest would have been subsumed by the interest of the party under the law. In my view, the outcome of the convention is the end of discussion. I have always maintained that this concept of consensus is undemocratic.
What are your thoughts on the idea of Muslim-Muslim ticket at this present time giving the fragile peace in the country?
Traditionally, nobody worries about the imposition of a running mate. And nobody cares to impose a running mate. The issue of running mate is usually the issue of balancing. And it is because the issue of religion has become an important factor in our relationship as a nation. Christians continue to believe that Christians and Muslims must be recognized equally in sharing political decisions. My view is different. I do not believe that political decisions should be defined by religion. As far as I am concerned, we need to separate religion from politics. To my mind, the art of politicking and religion should be strictly defined by the law of a nation. But unfortunately in our nation, we have religious factor, regional factor, and so on and so forth. I think we need to reach a point where we think beyond all these. For example, would you prefer a Muslim-Christian team that is just a watch out to a Muslim-Muslim ticket that gives you good governance, improves our development, improves our unity, enhances education, social development, economy, and reduces unemployment merely because of religious balance? I think at the end of it all, decisions about what we need as a people are not religion. The problem is with the elite because of the rivalry for recognition and positioning. The use of religion has become one of the abuses in development our journey.
Because of the peculiarity of the North, Tinubu has a narrow choice of a running mate as against his counterpart in the PDP. What do you think may likely be the implication of a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the party?
I think we have to be realistic particularly we Yoruba of the Southwest because the current candidate of APC is a Yoruba man and the social dialogue in this nation is largely controlled by the Yoruba. We are fighting for a Southern president who will represent the interest of the South and principally the interest of Nigeria. But a Southern candidate will not automatically become the President unless he is able to poll enough vote to emerge as the President. That means we have to make the necessary sacrifices for him to win which is higher than the discontent about religious imbalance. Common sense dictate that we should be realistic and practical. If our chance of winning is increased substantially by getting a good Muslim to work with a Southern presidential candidate, I think common sense dictates that we appreciate the situation instead of fighting it. If we fight it and at the end of it all we don’t get a Southern president, all the efforts and the struggle will come to nought. When you are not practical and realistic, what you get is regret.
To that extent, are you expecting a situation where all eligible voters will shun both party and religious affiliations to queue behind the candidate of the APC?
Some will, some won’t. In my view, APC should not depend on that possibility. I believe APC should depend on itself and ask itself what strategy it needs to put together in order to win the election. You must realize that APC as at today is the party for the Southern part of the country based on the desire for a Southern president. In order to win, it has to be a combination of the Yoruba of the Southwest and the Fulani/Hausa of the North. Now, we have a bloc in the Southwest that is likely to support the candidate of APC. But we do not have a bloc in the North to support anybody. To that extent, we have an advantage. But if we do not carefully and practically make a decision that is favourable to our chance of winning by disregarding this albatross of religious tension, we may then find out that we have a bloc vote in the North that will work against our interest. In other words, we must be careful not to allow the PDP that has a Northern candidate to gain the advantage of religion over the Southern candidate. What I am in essence saying is that before we reject Muslim-Muslim ticket, we must first of all ask ourselves: Is our chance of winning presidency for the South enhanced by a Muslim/Christian ticket or reduced by it? For me, what is practically important is the number of voters. I will say that South should think deeply and be realistic in whatever decision they make.
What would you say about the Southeast which made frantic effort to get either the presidential ticket of the PDP or APC, but couldn’t secure any of the two?
Before the Southeast will be able to have a candidate for Nigeria, it must prepare itself to be Nigerian. Where you have a situation where non-state actors are in charge of the zone and the people fear them more than the state actors, there is simply no way that the other parts of this nation can feel comfortable handing over the affairs of the country to that zone. That is the practical reality. Therefore, regardless of the acclamation Southeast has made about marginalization, if other parts of Nigeria are not comfortable with taking presidency to that zone, it will be difficult to achieve the desire for the president of Igbo extraction. The Southeast people need to do a soul-searching and work out an internal transformation to gain the support of other parts of Nigeria. You cannot, for instance, want to rule Nigeria and at the same time want self-determination. They need to win the trust of the South, first and foremost, before they can proceed to win the trust of the North.