Kingsley Moghalu, a former presidential candidate, has said religion did not play a role in the choice of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), running mate.
Recall that Tinubu had announced Kassim Shettima, former Borno governor, as running mate on Sunday.
The decision has divided opinion and sparked controversy.
Reacting to the development, Moghalu said Tinubu’s choice of running mate was born out of political expediency and not religion.
Tweeting on Friday, Moghalu, who lost the ADC presidential ticket in the primaries, said he is not surprised by the uproar the issue has generated.
“As I said recently to a question on @ARISEtv, the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket was intended more as a political calculation than a declaration of “religious war,” he said.
The former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Deputy-Governor said the storm being sparked by the decision is because of the sensitivity of religion in Nigeria today.
However, the former CBN boss claimed the decision by the APC and its candidate would be tested at the polls, adding that Nigeria is not the same as the country left behind by MKO Abiola in 1993.
“Las las it is clear that Nigeria’s nationhood trajectory has gone downward rather than upward in the past three decades. Who, or what will be the real ‘unifier’? My answer: a fundamental constitutional re-engineering. #Restructuring.”