A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Yekini Nabena, has said Nigerians should be more worried about the reasons the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) killed fairness and conventional power rotation between the North and the South and not a Muslim-Muslim ticket of the ruling party.
The APC chieftain believed that abandoning the zoning arrangement by the PDP is more harmful to the unity of Nigeria than a single-faith ticket.
Nabena, while urging Nigerians to ignore the unnecessary cry by the opposition parties, said there are Muslims in the North, as well as all parts of the South; hence, the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC is harmless.
Speaking with newsmen Tuesday in Abuja, the APC chieftain said in the South-south geopolitical zone, where most of the states have Christian-Christian Governor and Deputy Governor, the states are yet to develop despite their huge oil revenues.
The APC’s former spokesman also said a single-faith ticket is not new in Nigeria, according to history.
According to him, Nigeria had the Buhari/Idiagbon Muslim-Muslim ticket, Gowon/Adewale Christian-Christian ticket in the past and heaven did not fall, adding that in 2011 when the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) fielded Nuhu Ribadu and Fola Adeola, both Muslims, there was no cry by the opposition because the ticket stood no chance of winning.
Nabena said: “None of those agitating against the Muslim-Muslim ticket based on fairness have considered the African Traditional Worshippers. How fair is it that we are agitating for fairness and equity to share power between Christians and Muslims while completely ignoring and alienating our African Traditional Worshippers? Where is the justice?
Nigeria should worry more about the zoning arrangement which the PDP has just killed for their selfish interest and desperation for its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, because for Atiku it is the last chance, which will become one-chance for him by 2023.
When asked whether a Muslim-Muslim ticket will sell in the South-south, where he hails from, the Bayelsa-born APC chieftain said, “In the South-south, where we have a Christian-Christian ticket for the Governor and Deputy Governor, there is still no tangible development. Take, for example, the NDDC headed by a Christian Minister and a Christian Managing Director, what is the result?
The APC has done the right thing by zoning the presidency to the South. Nigerians must know that religion is a matter of individual race; the most important thing is that the presidency is in the South compared to PDP’s unfair treatment of the South.”
The APC’s former spokesman said Nigerians must reject the PDP in 2023 to show their anger against the injustice done to the zoning arrangement.
“PDP zoned Presidency to the North, while the incumbent President is from the North, a Muslim and a Fulani man, just like Atiku. This actually calls for anger and not a harmless Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC,” Nabena said.
