By Ahmed Ayanfe
Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has said that the governance has nothing to do with religion.
He also urged Nigerians reconsider their criticism on a probable Muslim-Muslim ticket by his political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 presidential election.
El-Rufai, who is one of the contenders for the slot of the APC vice president, made the statement during a monitored political programme on Channels Television on Friday.
He further said that he is the wrong person for anybody to ask questions about the controversial Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket.
Already, indications are rife that the Kaduna State Governor is playing his politics to position as the preferred running mate of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a Muslim and the presidential flagbearer of APC who polled the highest votes of 1,271 on Thursday in the party’s primary election.
El-Rufai, also a Muslim, described critics warning against settling for a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket as being pathetic.
He said while running for the position of Kaduna state governor, he contested with a Muslim-Muslim ticket and won overwhelmingly despite criticism.
“I’m the wrong person to ask because, in my state, I picked a very competent and qualified woman as a running mate in the 2019 election, but just because she happens to be a Muslim, people were calling it ‘Muslim-Muslim ticket’ and they said we were going to lose, but we won overwhelmingly.”
The governor emphasised that it is high time Nigerians started looking beyond religious affiliations, adding that what matters is competence and delivery of good governance.
He said, “I don’t look at people from Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Christian angle. Most of my closest friends are Christians.
“It was Pastor Tunde Bakare, a Pentecostal pastor, that took me to the CPC, not President Buhari. I’m very close to Bakare. I’m very close to many Christians.
“I don’t think the business of governance has anything to do with religion. I think we should look for the best person for the job. A person that will get the job done and let him do that.”
What You Should Know
Prior to this, the Christian Association of Nigeria has warned political parties against a Muslim-Muslim ticket or a Christian-Christian ticket for the presidential election. It said this would be a threat to the peace and unity of the country.
CAN, in a statement by its National Secretary, Joseph Daramola, on Friday, congratulated the candidates, while calling for a balance of religious representation when choosing competent running mates.
The statement added, “The running mate of the APC presidential flag bearer, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, should be a Christian from the North; Atiku’s running mate should be a Christian from the South, while Obi should choose his among the Muslims from the North.
“Anything contrary to the above means that the leadership of these political parties do not bother about the unity of this entity called Nigeria. Those who are planning a Muslim-Muslim ticket should also find out what was the outcome of the MKO Abiola and (Babagana) Kingibe ticket in 1993. If they try a Muslim-Muslim ticket this time round, the outcome will be worse, because our fault lines are very visible.”
