Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has said he would support the All Progressives Congress, APC Presidential flag bearer, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, should the party settle for Muslim running-mate.
Recall that the public debate over possibility of the ruling party fielding a Muslim-Muslim ticket has dominated the public conversation lately.
Meanwhile, Fani-Kayode, an APC chieftain, while speaking on the issue on Channels TV’s political show, Politics Today, maintained that religion could not be ruled out totally in the Nigerian politics.
Fani-Koyode stated that it would be a “very big mistake” to suggest that a Muslim-Muslim ticket should not be an issue for anybody.
He said, “It’s an issue and we will have to explain and defend to the wider population of the Nigerian people if we choose to go that way. I am not saying I’m against it. If that’s what the candidate wants, we will stand by him and defend him.
“However, we need to defend it. We can’t just say religion has no place in the politics of today. It certainly does, especially where 50 Christians were slaughtered in a Church in Owo the other day. In Southern Kaduna the other day, a number of 34 Christians were slaughtered,” he added.
The APC chieftain expressed worry that, in the last few years, Christians and Muslims were being slaughtered all over the country in the name of religion.
“We have a Islamist revolt that is to say ISWAP on the one hand, Bokoharam on the other and so many herdsmen killings and these people happened not to be the real Muslims, but pretending to Muslims, because the real Muslims do that kind of thing.
Fani-Kayode, who noted that these were facts that could not be dismissed, however, said he would support the presidential candidate should he (Asiwaju Bola Tinubu should) decide to pick a Muslim runnig-mate.
“Let’s just hope he reasons it out carefully and chooses the right candidate to run with him,” he said.
While Tinubu intensifies consultation on choice of running-mate, other names that have been listed as likely running-mate for the APC presidential candidates are the Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu; Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai; Kano State Governor, Abdulahi Ganduje; Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Gida Mustapha and Malam Kashim Ibrahim-Imam.