A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has said the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 presidential election will be resisted with prayers.
His stance was supported by a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara.
The duo, who are Christian political leaders from the Northern part of the country, spoke at an APC Northern Christian Leaders Summit in Abuja on Friday.
The duo said Christians, including members of the APC, will use their Permanent Voters Card (PVCs) and prayers to resist the party’s plan ahead of the polls
The ruling party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, picked Kashim Shettima, the former governor of Borno, a Muslim, as his running mate.
Tinubu’s decision has led to mixed reactions from key stakeholders, particularly the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).
“Clearly, there is an agenda to politically, religiously, and economically suppress and oppress the Northern Christian. But we are up to the task.
He added: “The main purpose of this historical narrative is to let you know that for The APC, a Muslim-Muslim ticket has been a long-term political strategy and not a one-off decision.
“Thus, all this talk of competence as the reason for the choice of the Muslim VP is balderdash and diversionary. This is a calculated anti-Christian exclusion agenda that is being implemented.”
On his part, Dogara, who was the guest speaker at the event, said Mr Tinubu has made a fatal error in choosing a running mate.
The move, he said, is a rude awakening that happened sooner than later.
He lamented “unhelpful framings” of a debate by pundits that posit that Christians in the North are so small in number that their votes don’t count.
This strange argument, he said, seeks to reinforce the satanic agenda of dividing the church in Nigeria into North and South.
The lawmaker further said the Muslim/Muslim ticket is a bad decision because it fuels inequality and breeds division which is counter-productive to the collective aspirations for a united and prosperous nation.
He knocked the APC leaders for their inability to distinguish the Nigeria of 1993 from 2022.
“An indispensable attribute of a leader in crisis is to be able to recognise a departure of events from routine to novel.
“Consequently, anyone who thinks that events in Nigeria in 2022 are not novel but routine as they were in 1993 is totally incapable of finding solutions to challenges currently ravaging our dear nation.”
He also urged Nigerians to “rebuke with love”, the “nodding dogs who have sold themselves to lying spirits by deliberately believing in lies or are refusing to accept the truth.”
“The harder they try to make us bow to the golden image of greed, the more we should chant to their chagrin the answer given by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
“As long as God remains the God of justice, may we continue to resist injustice to our sinews, no matter who is for or against it because it is the requirement of the just God.”
Also at the event were Adamawa senator, Elisha Abbo; former sports minister, Solomon Dalung, and other APC leaders.