Muslim-Muslim ticket is more of a political party strategy, says Moghalu
Former Action Democratic Congress ADC) presidential aspirant, Kingsley Moghalu, described the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as more of political strategy than a declaration of religious war.
Moghalu’s comment came on the backdrop of arguments from Nigerians regarding the suitability of that decision and its implication for the country.
Moghalu stressed that the ruling party intentionally settled for that as a design to win election, adding that it would be tested at the polls.
A number of Nigerians had reacted differently to the decision made by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the standard bearer of the ruling party for the 2023 elections, to settle for former Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, as his running mate.
While some argued against it citing religious polarity in the country, a number of others said it was nothing to worry about given the competence of the candidate.
Speaking on the development in a series of tweets, Moghalu said the political calculation by the ruling party was at variance with the religious mood in the country.
The ex-deputy Central Bank of Nigeria Governor therefore advocated fundamental constitutional re-engineering as the only way to keep the country together.
The tweets read: “As I said recently to a question earlier in an interview , the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket was intended more as a political calculation than a declaration of “religious war”. Given the sensitivity of religion in Nigeria today, however, it should not surprise us that it’s sparked a storm.
“It will be tested at the polls. Today’s Nigeria is hardly the one in which MKO Abiola won the presidential election in 1993 on a Muslim-Muslim ticket. What a difference time makes. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe ran for President in 1979 on a Christian-Christian ticket with Prof Ishaya Audu.
Obafemi Awolowo also ran in the same election with the renowned lawyer Phillip Umeadi, a Christian like him. Shehu Shagari, a Muslim, ran with Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Christian – and won, though by the skin of his teeth for those who remember the 12 and 2/3rd judicial saga.
“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.