Muslim-Muslim ticket: Aggrieved APC members took their protest to the party secretariat

Image: Vanguard

The ripple that Tinubu’s Muslim-Muslim ticket created keeps expanding every passing day. It was reported by PUNCH that several demonstrators running into hundreds on Wednesday, stormed the APC national secretariat to register their grievances on the party’s stance on the burning issue of the All-Muslim ticket.

Coincidentally, the protest occurred at the same time as the official unveiling of Senator Kashim Shettima as the running mate of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua in Abuja.

Few party members under the umbrella of APC Hausa-Fulani Youth Forum arrive at the party secretariat in six luxury buses and a few cars with different banners and chanting solidarity songs.

Inscriptions on the banners vary, but with the same message; some read as ‘A cry for justice,’ ‘Drop Shettima and give slot to our Christian brothers,’ Discrimination and mutual suspicion in our country’ and so on. 

Abdullahi Bilal Mohamadu, the Convener of Forum, spoke to our source, PUNCH, saying they will not stop protesting until the party does the right.

When asked why they chose today as the day the party officially unveiled Shettima, Mohammadu said it was a deliberate act to tender their grievances and ensure they reached the appropriate authorities.

Image: Independent Newspaper

The forum addressed a letter to the National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, and it reads:

“We write to your good office in light of the prevailing circumstances arising from the decision of our Presidential candidate to select a Northern Muslim as his vice presidential candidate.

“While it must be stated that there is a right to make decisions, however, such decisions must not be made to the collective detriment of the sensibilities of the people that make up the country of Nigeria, especially at a time of mutual suspicion amongst the Christians and Muslims in the northern part of the country.

“As concerned stakeholders of the APC and those who constitute the voting strength of our party, we find it worrisome that such a decision could be taken without recourse to its implication on the electoral chances of the party and the attendant uproar such a decision could bring about in the country.

“In our opinion, this is insensitive and a gross display of a lack of respect for our Christian brothers and sisters, especially the Middle Belt minority who have given all their best to us as one northern Nigeria. Picking another Muslim from the north eastern part of the country as his running mate is politically and morally indefensible.

“In Northern Nigeria, there are credible candidates with rich credentials and with massive grassroots following that can complement the presidential ticket of the APC in the presidential elections. As such, the Hausa – Fulani Youths Forum sees the selection of Senator Kashim Shettima as an aberration that should be corrected with immediate effect by the relevant authorities within the party.

“The implication of non-action in this regard can only be imagined, so much so that the majority of the eligible voters in Northern Nigeria have elected to boycott the APC in protest of the disrespect and disregard to our Northern Christian brothers, whose population and relevance in the scheme of things in the region cannot be overemphasized.

“If our party is desirous of recording electoral success in the 2023 presidential elections, it must retrace its steps by selecting a Christian from the Middle Belt as its vice presidential candidate. The party must not be perceived as promoting a religious agenda by fielding a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

“We consequently say no to a Muslim-Muslim ticket by the APC. We call on President Muhammadu Buhari to kindly intervene to save the party from an electoral crisis. We urge Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to emulate the example of President Muhammadu Buhari in the choice of his running mate in the 2015 and 2019 presidential elections.

“Our Christian brothers and sisters deserve a place in the scheme of things, and our party must not be seen as a religiously insensitive party. The time to act is now.”

Source

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