A high-ranking and respected official of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) came to see me yesterday and expressed concern about my disposition towards a Muslim/Muslim ticket.
He informed me about CAN’s vehement opposition to such a ticket and said that the leadership of the organisation watched my interview on Channels Television where it appeared that I was not on all fours with them.
They felt this was very unlike me because they know how much I rever my faith and how much I respect CAN and its leadership and how I am usually in agreement with them on all issues.
It was a mark of honor to me that they thought me worthy of sending someone to get an explanation and after thanking him for that we spoke for no less than two hours. At the end of it all I believe the person understood my position better and promised to convey it to the leadership of CAN.
Permit me to share some of the points I made to him here for the record.
The first was as follows.
It is perceived by many in the APC that a Muslim/Muslim ticket may be the winning formula in the coming election. They believe that it would be politically expedient to take advantage of that and present such a ticket.
It is perceived by others in the APC that a Muslim/Muslim ticket will be a direct challenge to the Christian community in Nigeria and it may jeopardise the chances of our party in the coming election.
I hold the latter view but I have said that if our candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, insists on a Muslim/Muslim ticket, I and many others shall stand by him and attempt to defend it as long as his running mate is not an extremist who will undermine the interests of the Christian community.
In this matter we must not allow ourselves to be guided by emotion but rather by our obligation to support our candidate and party, the quest and desire to win the coming presidential election at all costs, political expediency and by what the British call ‘real politik’.
And neither is it in any way a betrayal of our values or our Christian faith to take this position because Muslim/Muslim ticket or no Muslim/Muslim ticket we will not sit by idly and allow ANYONE or any GOVERNMENT to undermine our faith or our people.
If Asiwaju decides on a Muslim/Muslim ticket we shall either swim with him or sink with him and, whichever way, given the experience of Atiku Abubakar and the certainty that the PDP will give its Vice Presidential ticket to a Christian, it will be a hard fight.
I say this because there are over 100 million Christians in this country who feel passionately about their faith and who believe that they MUST be protected and represented at the highest level.
Those that wish them away, dismiss their concerns and say they do not care about how they feel do so at their own peril.
No matter what the candidate decides he must allay their fears and carry them along because the fear and concerns about islamisation, rightly or wrongly, are very real.
The second point is as follows.
The success or lack of it of a Muslim/Muslim ticket will depend largely on WHO the Muslim Vice Presidential candidate will be.
If it is a Muslim that has a track record of killing, persecuting, denigrating, hating, undermining, marginalising or working against Christians in ANY shape or form, I and millions of Christians all over this country will oppose it decisively and aggressively regardless of the consequences because we will not allow anyone to destroy the Church, intimidate or persecute our people or mess with our faith .
However if it is a Muslim that has shown love and displayed sensitivity to the Christian community over the years and who we believe we can trust, I and millions of other Christians will support it.
It is left to those of us that are Christians to let the faithful know who is who and who they can trust amongst the Muslims in the knowledge that not all Muslims are bad and not all Christians are good.
There are indeed good and bad people on both sides of the religious divide.
The truth is that in an ideal world religion and faith should not determine who our candidates and their running mates ought to be and when it comes to matters of governance I agree with those that say that in this day & age we should not bring religion into it that is what counts.
Again, we must always remember that whether Christian or Muslim or whether Southerner or Northerner, we are first and foremost Nigerians and that WE ARE ONE!
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s choice of running mate will make or mar our parties’ chances at the election.
May God lead and guide him to make the right one.
May the Lord grant him the spirit if discernment to do the right thing and may He grant him the courage to stand firm in this great and epic struggle to move our nation forward.
