The APC and All-Muslim Presidency: Unity, not Competency, Matters
If Nigeria were a sane country, one wouldn’t be bothered about the idea of a Muslim-Muslim presidency the APC is flirting with. At first I had no qualms with that; but a country that is always seen dividing itself along regional and religious lines, an all Muslim presidency is a precarious partisanship telling that Christians don’t matter in a country that is evenly shared between both religions. Yes, a Christian vice president is likely never going to protect the interest of the Christian community. Osinbajo is the current vice president, a Christian and a pastor, but men of the underworld will attack a church and kill defenseless worshippers and all he’ll do is condemn the killing. No action is read or seen to apprehend perpetrators. Ditto Buhari, his boss. In fact, barely 24 hours after the Owo killings, the presidency was seen wining and dining his party chieftains; how callous these guys could be!
No religion or tribe has ever benefited from a government that comes from their community in the history of the country’s nationalism. All politicians from time past to time present are always seen satisfying their greed rather than developing and defending the integrity and sovereignty of the nation. Yet, there’s a mutual agreement agreed upon right from when our nationalism began that we must respect. And that is balanced representation. Therefore, the cry for the APC to jettison this idea to turn in an all Muslim presidency is not about protecting the interest of a people, but closing our regional/religious lines so as to foster trust. This issue should not even be treated as a party politics but national interest.
Those who are using competency as a reason to sell the Muslim-Muslim presidency are being dishonest and would not allow that idea to see the light of day if reverse was the case. Even at that, is there no competent Christian in the APC that Tinubu could pick? Is that what they want to tell the Christian community and posterity? Also, those who are using Kaduna state as example are ignorant. Dr Hadiza Balarebe would not be Elrufai’s deputy if she weren’t a woman and from Southern Kaduna. And how much has she protected the interest of the Southern Kaduna people?
All-Muslim presidency doesn’t preach unity; I’m grateful that the church has seen that and is vehemently standing against it. The Catholic Church has sent out a press statement in that regard; ditto ECWA (and I couldn’t be prouder to see my church president wrote against that). Nigeria hasn’t got to that state yet in which one’s religion and ethnicity should not matter. Those who are pushing this agenda are either selfish or are religious jingoists. Belongingness is a human emotional need you must not deny a people with.
This is how domination and marginalization starts. And this is exactly why there is Biafra. Nationalism must trump party politics.
