Despite the public furor over the Muslim-Muslim ticket fielded by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 presidential election – a development that is generating dissent among stakeholders, the formal unveiling of the party’s vice-presidential candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima, to the public on Wednesday, turned out to be a tragic-comedy of errors, marred by controversy over rented crowds and impostors dressed as Catholic Bishops, who were euphemistically described by the presiding master of Ceremony as Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) leaders. But CAN was swift in its condemnation and debunking of the impersonation, dismissing it as a Nollywood movie. In a statement, CAN said: “the people we saw at the unveiling of Shettima paraded as Bishops are people who did not have enough time to learn how to wear Bishop garments. Take a look and you will see another Nollywood movie,” referring to one of the fake APC Bishops who adorned mass-celebrating gear which was inappropriate for the event. The belligerent bellicosity displayed by Bola Tinubu and his APC co-travelers, is to say the least, shameless, self-demeaning, hypocritical and most unacceptable.
Although the fake clergymen refused to identify themselves, nor name their congregation or what part of Nigeria they came from, Huhuonline.com identified one of the purported Catholic Bishops as one Mr. Ugo Ugokwe; an APC stalwart, who contested the deputy youth leader position in the Southeast during the party’s 2022 convention. Ironically, Ugo Ugokwe’s manifesto underscored the need for integrity and political enlightenment as his campaign slogan. Yet he saw nothing wrong in impersonating men of God for political expediency. Another APC party member who dressed up as a clergy was simply identified as Jide of NURTW, and an ally of Oluomo. Huhuonline.com has learnt from sources that APC presidential nominee, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu personally paid party members up to N100,000.00 to dress up as clergy members in order to hoodwink and deceive the public that he commands the respect and support of Christian leaders, who have vehemently opposed his all-Muslim ticket.
Wednesday’s unveiling ended speculations that Tinubu, would drop Shettima in deference to agitations by Christians and other well-meaning Nigerians opposed to the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC party. Tinubu had been under considerable pressure, especially from APC Muslim youths, who categorically rejected the choice of Shettima, urging the party to replace him with a Christian without further delay. At a press conference in Abuja on the sidelines of the unveiling, yesterday, the Convener of the group, Abdullahi Saleh, said the Muslim-Muslim ticket was against the spirit of national unity and certainly does not serve the cause of one Nigeria. “As concerned stakeholders of APC in the 19 Northern states, we find it worrisome that such a decision could be taken without recourse to its implication on the electoral chances of the party and the attendant uproar such a decision could bring about in the country.
“It is also worrisome that of all the political parties, only the APC presented a Muslim-Muslim ticket. In our opinion, this is insensitive and a gross display of lack of respect for our Christian brothers and sisters and is morally indefensible. As a group, we wish to state that we reject the choice of Shettima as the vice-presidential candidate of the APC. This decision is hinged on the need to ensure a balance in the presidential ticket of the APC, as it has been since the return of democracy in 1999,” he added. Likewise, CAN’s youth wing has vowed not to allow its members to vote for a Muslim-Muslim ticket. The North central zone CAN chair, Alfred Owoyemi, told journalists in Abuja that, Christian youths had resolved never to support the idea. “We want to emphasize that this is not healthy for the highly diversified Nigerian space, especially in the face of growing and alarming insecurity in our nation. Any well-meaning presidential candidate will focus on an all-inclusive federal character. Consequently, the Nigerian Christian youths will not support or encourage any action or decision capable of further dividing and setting this nation on fire. Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket insults the sensitivity of Nigerians and the Christian youths are saying a big no.”
However, the Tinubu Campaign Organization (TCO), is doubling down on its defense of the all-Muslim ticket, arguing that religion or ethnicity was far from the calculations of Tinubu in picking his running mate. In a statement by its Director of Media & Communication, Bayo Onanuga, said if Tinubu intended to cash in on ethnicity, he would have picked a running mate from the Northwest, which has the highest number of registered voters. “If he wanted to appeal to the base instincts of religion, he would have also gone for a candidate in the Christian-dominated parts of Nigeria, but there was no such consideration. Instead, he picked a tested politician and technocrat from the minority Kanuri ethnic group in the Northeast. The factors at play were issues germane to confronting the multi-dimensional crisis our nation faces today: insecurity, economic problems, such as the unemployment crisis facing our youths.
Nigerians have a lot to gain in having the two tested leaders at the helm of affairs. Naturally, some Nigerians with closet motives have failed to see the opportunities and possibilities the twin candidates present to our country at this time of difficult security, economic and political development, preferring to fan the embers of religion and ethnic divisions among their unsuspecting and vulnerable compatriots. The TCO hereby appeals to fellow Nigerians to embrace the best elements of our common purpose and reject the campaign and incitement against fellow citizens,” the statement read in part.
The unveiling at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja was witnessed by members of the APC National Executive Committee (NEC), the Progressives Governors’ Forum, APC Caucus in the National Assembly, members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), and APC state chairmen, among others. The insensitivity is simply mind-boggling and inexcusable. It was amateurish, senseless, unimaginable, disgraceful and devoid of any perfunctory exaggeration. By this singular act of civic callousness, dancing in mockery even as the nation suffocates under the weight of insecurity and bad governance, Tinubu and the APC who have remained conspicuously silence as the scandal has gone viral amid a hailstorm of criticism and condemnation on social media, advertised a certain hollowness in morality that challenged sundry observers to question Tinubu’s judgment and character. It illustrates another poor dimensioning of the stature of presidential aspirants and the amplification of the absence of good personal leadership example, from the man who wants to be the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
