The senator for Adamawa North, Ishaku Abbo, has criticized Bola Tinubu’s choice of a Muslim as his running mate on behalf of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
On Sunday, Tinubu declared Kashim Shettima, a senator for Borno central and a former governor of that state, as the APC’s vice-presidential candidate.
Tinubu’s decision to prioritize his political ambition over Nigeria’s stability and peace, according to Abbo, was foolish, reckless, and unconsiderate.
Since then, Abbo has resigned from a Tinubu supporter organization due to the APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“For Tinubu now to be given the ticket and turn around to do what he couldn’t achieve in 2015 despite opposition from Catholics and other Christian leaders is extremely irresponsible,” the federal legislator added.
He berated Tinubu for not adopting the vice presidential aspirations of the opposition and for President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2015 choice of a Christian running mate.
“Buhari fought in a civil war and is aware of the effects of a divided country. Because he recognized the value of unity, Buhari declined Tinubu’s request to serve as vice president in 2015, according to Abbo.
Abbo described how he met with a support group in Abuja to look for Mr. Tinubu’s running mate. Tinubu shouldn’t choose a Muslim to be his running mate in the 2023 presidential race, the panel determined.
“We sat down in Abuja and strategised, and we concluded that he should not take a Muslim as running mate. He (Tinubu) threw away the report. My conscience will not allow me to campaign for Tinubu. I am a member of CAN; I cannot deny CAN. I remain in APC. But I will take the survival of my country first over political considerations,” People’s Gazette quoted Abbo as saying
He added, “We cannot work for such a man. I will oppose (a) Christian-Christian ticket because I am invested in the stability of this country. A Christian-Christian ticket will be insensitive to Muslims of this country. The country is evenly divided among Muslims and Christians. So any government that is Muslim-Muslim will be illegitimate and will never gain the respect of Christians.”
A request for comments on Abbo’s statement was not immediately answered by Bayo Onanuga, a spokesman for Bola Tinubu Campaign Headquarters.
