Supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu have urged people to ignore the threats from former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr Yakubu Dogara, and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, to mobilise northern Christian electorates to vote for other candidates.
Tinubu’s supporters have dismissed their threat as the rants of disgruntled party members, who were merely trying to incite Nigerians to cover up the frustrations of losing out to a better candidate. This is even as they reassured that their principal has commenced consultation with relevant religious leaders and organisations.
The Director of Media and Communications, Tinubu Campaign Organisation, Bayo Onanuga, has expressed amazement that responsible leaders such as Lawal, Dalung and Dogara can stoop low to spew such hateful words.
He said, “We know where these people are coming from. I won’t like to join issues with anybody. Dogara is a Christian. If you follow him, you will find contradictions in what he said. Who made Dogara the Speaker of the National Assembly? Jubril, a Muslim did. He was his campaign manager. Was it not a Muslim that also made Babachir Lawal the SGF?
“So when you see responsible leaders spew hatred around, you will know that it is not worth joining issues with them. Nigerians have seen through people like this. They are only inciting themselves because they lost out, not the masses. For now, we are looking forward to September when election campaign will kick off”
Onanuga, however, reassured that his principal is reaching out to religious bodies and leaders to assure them that he has no ulterior motive when he settled for a Muslim running mate.
“The candidate is talking to the Christian leaders that our ticket is not by religion at all. We believe many of them will see reason and support our ticket. We don’t want to be seen debating Christianity or Islam, that belongs elsewhere. The Tinubu-Shettima ticket is a political one, not what Babachir and Dogara are portraying. We also know it is only a matter of time before they decamp,” he said.
It could be recalled that strong opposition against Tinubu’s preference for a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket has pitted him against the Christian community ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
Leaders of northern Christian groups met in Abuja over the weekend calling on Nigerians not to vote for any joint ticket that does not represent Christians and Muslims, saying the former Lagos State governor has made a fatal error that could end his ambition in February’s poll. Those at the forefront of the campaign are Lawal, Dogara; a former Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung and Senator Ishaku Abbo (Adamawa North).
Lawal, who was the chairman on the occasion, said many within and outside the APC had expressed shock and disbelief over the reaction to the party’s Muslim-Muslim ticket, adding that it was a grand conspiracy against northern Christians.