From Noah Ebije, Kaduna

Northern States Christian Elders Forum (NOSCEF) has taken a swipe at the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, giving reasons why Northern Christians are against the same-faith ticket of the ruling party.

In a chat with Saturday Sun, the Convener and immediate past Chairman of the Christian Elders, Evangelist Matthew Owojaiye insisted that Tinubu has insulted the Christian community by his decision to pick a fellow Muslim as the running mate. He ticked off on his fingers the reasons Christians are not comfortable with the decision in spite of the efforts by the party’s and Tinubu’s footmen to reassure them.  “Of all the political parties contesting for the 2023 presidential election, it is only Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that has the audacity to do the Muslim-Muslim ticket to insult Christians. This is number one.

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“Number two, President Muhammadu Buhari is a Muslim. He is on his eighth year in office. But he wreaked havoc on the nation. Almost all the key national posts are in the hands of Muslims. The bandits reigning havoc all over the nation are Muslims. They have not been arrested and prosecuted.  And those in the bush are also Muslims. But instead of dealing decisively with them, our soldiers are strong and powerful and efficient to deal with them, but they are not allowed to do so.

“Now, we are hearing the rumour of their plan to turn the whole of West Africa to a Muslim Caliphate. If after Buhari’s eight years rule, even with a Christian as a Vice President, he couldn’t stop Buhari, a Muslim from doing anything he wanted, is it under a Muslim-Muslim ticket that that will be done? Imagine what will happen if Tinubu comes in and do eight years, making 16 years of Muslim rule!  It is not only that his running mate is not a Christian, but to insult us further, he chose the former governor of Borno State, Shettima, under whose government the Chibok girls were kidnapped.

“Thirdly, to tell us that there is no Christian with integrity and competence to be Vice president is the greatest of all insults. In fact, the Muslim-Muslim ticket is a total insult on us.”  He noted that even some Muslims are against the same-faith ticket for the presidential race. He said: “It is because they are sincere, and they know that it is not a normal thing; it is not justice. It is foolishness on the side of Tinubu to say that MKO Abiola did it in 1993. I will advise him not to do what Abiola did that time. Many things have changed over the years.”