Opposition Against APC Single Faith Ticket Rages

The opposition against the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has refused to abate despite the claim by the leadership of the party that it has opened discussions with aggrieved chieftains.

Some youths on Friday who claimed to be members of the party in the North Central zone staged protests in Abuja against the single faith ticket.

Operating under the platform, North Central Progressives Youth (NCPY), they demanded the removal of two-term Borno governor, Kashim Shettima as the Vice- Presidential candidate to the APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Convener of the group, Comrade Musa Attah who addressed journalists at Unity Fountain before he led a procession to the Presidential Villa claimed that a single faith ticket was a threat to the legacies of President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said: “Mr President, on numerous occasions you have promised to bequeath a democratic system imbued with workable institutional structures that will stand the test of time. True to your word, the nation’s electoral system has been revolutionised.”

“Mr President, your footprints will never be forgotten in the area of infrastructure. The fact that there’s still a country called Nigeria is due to your resilience despite the mirage of security challenges. We are also coping with the global economic crisis. Meanwhile, the trial of the suspended Accountant-General of the Federation and many others have proven your zero tolerance for corruption. There are no sacred cows.

“Yet your biggest legacy will be your successor. Whoever takes over from you will either consolidate on some of these gains achieved in the last seven years or dissuade them all. As a progressive nation, we wouldn’t want the latter. And that is why we are beckoning on you to call the ruling All Progressives Congress to order as regards its presidential candidates.”

Attah who maintained that the NCPY has nothing against the aspiration of Bola Tinubu faulted his choice of a fellow Muslim as running mate.

The group further claimed that the same faith ticket was against provisions of the Nigerian Constitution.

“Tinubu’s alliance with Shettima may just be his undoing. In the face of unprecedented disunity, the same faith ticket is a disregard for the country’s fragility and would further polarize the nation. Sections 14 and 15 of the Constitution talk about Federal Character. The question is, does the choice of a Muslim-Muslim ticket fit into that Federal Character? As they say in law, you can’t come to equity without clean hands. He who wants equity must do equity. Is there equity in that Muslim-Muslim choice?

“The rejection of the same faith ticket should not be seen as Christian objection but a protest by every Nigerian in favour of democracy which guarantees freedom of choice, freedom of expression, and freedom of worship. Nigeria is a secular state. Our forefathers were aware of this even before they designed the Constitution. And in making these choices, we must be sensitive to the sensibilities of the people. It shouldn’t be lorded over the people, to whom the power belongs.

“A Muslim-Muslim presidency would mean a sectional national ideology to replace the liberty upon which Nigeria was established as a country. With Shettima, the APC is implying that Christians in the North are of no consequence in the scheme of things. We have a huge Christian population in the North-East and North-West. In the northcentral, the Christians are dominant. This is why Shettima must vacate this position.”

Source:- Tribuneonline

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