The immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has said the adoption of a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), would lead to the country’s disintegration.

Reactions have continued to trail the APC’s decision to fly a Muslim-Muslim ticket after the presidential candidate of the party, Bola Tinubu, who is a Muslim picked the former governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, as his running mate for the 2023 general election.

Many Nigerians have described the ruling party’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket as an “injustice” to the Christian community.

Dogara while speaking at a summit organised by APC Northern Christians Leaders Summit in Abuja on Friday, said: “Truth must be told that anyone who is not bringing us together is consciously tearing us apart.

“When we talk about a Muslim-Muslim ticket; God forbid that we should be understood to be objecting to Muslims or that we don’t want Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to be president.

“It is not about Senator Kashim Shettima either, but it is about what is right and what is wrong. It is about justice, fairness, and equity. It is about Nigeria; its diversity and how it can be harnessed in an inclusive manner for the greater good of all of us.

“Be that as it may, some of us really wanted Asiwaju to be president because he has sacrificed much for our party, the APC, and for what he represents to so many people. So, our position cannot be against Muslims or Islam. That fact cannot be denied in any way.

“But when it comes to choosing between the love and admiration I have for an individual and what is right and what I believe represents my vision for Nigeria, my choice will clearly be for the latter.

“In 2015, when we were called “janjeweed party”, my response was usually very simple. I could then say that, HE John Oyegun was the chairman of my party and my Vice-Presidential candidate was Pastor Yemi Osinbajo.

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“We don’t enjoy that luxury anymore as the President, Senate President, Speaker and his deputy; Senate and House Leaders; National Chairman and the Deputy National Chairman; Presidential and the Vice-Presidential candidates are all Muslims, leaving the Christians with just the position of VP Osibanjo and Deputy Senate President Omo-Agege at that level in a country whose population is fairly split between Muslims and Christians,” Dogara stated.

The former House of Reps Speaker further faulted the claims that there is no competent Christian to be APC’s vice-presidential candidate, describing the insinuations as “hogwash”, adding that such only “speaks to the need to deliberately exclude – whereas the need now is for inclusion”.

He added: “The other funny argument in the media is the claim that without a northern Muslim on the ticket, elections cannot be won. The implications of that argument are quite unambiguous; Northern Muslims don’t vote for the South – even if the candidate is a Muslim like them – and, of course, don’t vote for Christians.

“However, nothing can be further from the truth. If you stretch this argument further, it may lead to questions such as, “if Muslims in the North don’t trust a southern Muslim for any reason(s), why should Christians in Nigeria trust a Muslim from the South and North?” These are the kinds of arguments I hate to engage in and which we must avoid if we hope not to injure the health of our Republic,” Dogara added.

Dogara stated that the APC’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket was a bad decision, noting that it fuels inequality.

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“Other unhelpful framings of the debate by the so-called pundits posit that Christians in the North are so small in number that their votes don’t count. This strange argument seeks to reinforce the satanic agenda of dividing the church in Nigeria into North and South, and also ignores the fact and reality that Nigeria is evenly split on religious lines.

“These pundits are still not smart enough to tell us what is in the Muslim-Muslim ticket for southern Christians. The argument also ignores the fact that our official policy excludes religious affiliation from census data.

“There is therefore no scientific basis for these bizarre conclusions. Let us now look at a model for managing diversity,” the former House of Reps Speaker said.

The Star