Eight All Progressives Congress (APC) Christian leaders in the northern part of the country, led by former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and Prof Doknan Sheni, have dissociated themselves from former secretary to government of the federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, over his public declaration of support for the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi.
The APC northern leaders said Babachir Lawal was expressing a personal choice and not that of the group.
The group, in a statement jointly signed by Simon Achuba, Albert Atiwurcha, Prof Doknan Sheni, Mela A. Nung, Gen Ishaya Bauka (retd.), Prof Ibrahim Haruna and Mrs Leah Olusiyi last night said the group was yet to endorse any presidential candidate ahead of the 2023 polls.
The statement, which was in a reaction to a story entitled ‘Dogara, Babachir Lawal-led Northern APC Members Endorse Peter Obi,’ reads in part: “We wish to state that necessary consultations have been concluded, and based on manifestly unassailable empirical data, the group is poised to adopt a position which will be made known to the public at an interfaith event to be held very soon.”
According to the statement, no one in the group, including the chairman, Engr B. D. Lawal, had been mandated to speak to the public about the group’s position at the moment.
It said based on its modus operandi, the group’s position was meant to be presented to the general public at the inter-faith event referred to above.
“Consequently, the decision to endorse a particular candidate and the statement credited to the chairman are solely the decision and views of the chairman which he is absolutely entitled to but not that of the group. We hope this statement clears all the queries most of us have been inundated with on this all-important subject matter.”
Media reports earlier yesterday said that former SGF Babachir Lawal, had released a statement which purportedly conveyed the decision of aggrieved Northern APC Christian group to support the Obi/Datti ticket of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election.
The statement declared the Muslim-Muslim ticket fielded by the APC as satanic and called on all their members to reject both the APC presidential candidature, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Atiku Abubakar.
The statement, entitled “Why we have chosen to endorse the Obi/Datti ticket” and signed by Babachir Lawal, said it came to the decision to support Peter Obi and his running mate Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed after a painstaking analysis of the alternative tickets.
The group described the APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket as a deliberate and well-calculated plan to sow a seed of religious discord among Nigerians, adding that Northerners are their intended target.
“As one of the foremost critics of APC’s single-faith presidential ticket, and also in deference to those who have patiently waited for our guidance as to where to pitch our tent, after a painstaking review and analysis of the alternative presidential tickets, we now wish to recommend the Obi/Datti presidential ticket.
“We wish to briefly narrate some few reasons among many why we have endorsed this ticket and commend it to all Nigerians of good conscience who desire justice, equity and a harmonious co-existence of all Nigerians across tribes, religion and geopolitical regions. Moreover, there is currently in circulation the fake news that I have thrown in my towel with the PDP. Nothing could be further from the truth. To me the PDP and APC are different sides of the same coin.”
He pointed out that Northern Nigeria is currently mired in several intractable socio-economic problems due to the activities of several nebulous criminal groups and agriculture, the mainstay of the northern economy, has been almost abandoned due to the nefarious activities of kidnappers and bandits, among other challenges like the high number of out of school children, with schools shut due to fear of terrorists.
According to Babachir Lawal, government-owned universities also had to close shop, depriving the children of the already impoverished Northern masses access to affordable higher education, with out-of-school and idle children becoming easy targets for recruitment by bandits and kidnappers and no solution in sight.
The statement went on: “Then, out of nowhere this man, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a renown Yoruba-hegemonist, a man who championed the establishment of a Ministry of Regional Integration in each state government of the South-west geopolitical region which he bestrides as an emperor, and a man who was once quoted as saying “I do not believe in one Nigeria” (THISDAY, The Sunday Newspaper, April 13, 1997, page 9) comes up with a Muslim-Muslim ticket knowing fully well that religion is the underbelly of Northern Nigeria. APC’s same-faith ticket is a ploy to further sow discord among Northerners using the most potent weapon of social discord- religion. As Karl Max once said, “religion is the opium of the people”. Nigerians from all shades of the society must see this Tinubu/Kashim same-faith ticket as a proposal from the pit of hell that can only be conjured by the most Machiavellian minds known to man and therefore must be rejected wholesome by all lovers of our country and its nascent democracy.
“On the other hand, Alhaji Kashim Shetima, Tinubu’s Vice-Presidential running mate, is a man who once said “restructuring my foot, let’s restructure our minds”. For eight years he presided over Borno State at a time when Boko Haram was overrunning the state almost at will and restructuring the minds of its victims against Christianity and western education. The kidnapped Chibok and Dapchi girls and many more are now slowly trickling out of captivity in the Boko Haram indoctrination camps fully Islamised and carrying children born into Islam in captivity – a true example of “mind restructuring” if there ever was one.”
The statement also pointed to an allegation of a very close relationship between Kashim Shettima and Boko Haram.
He said: “And, which Christian can forget one Kabiru Sokoto, the alleged Boko Haram kingpin accused of complicity in the Christmas bombing of St Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, that resulted in 44 deaths and 77 injured Christian worshippers? Or that the said Kabiru Sokoto was eventually arrested at his hiding place in the Borno State Government Lodge, Abuja? Are Christians not justified in being scared of a government run by this duo?
“Surely, APC’s same-faith ticket is intended to shame Christians and bestow on them and their religion a second-class socio-political status in their own country. In particular it is a validation of the discrimination and oppression being meted out on Northern Nigerian Christians where they are now denied employment, promotion, contracts, and admission to read prestigious and marketable courses in government-owned schools simply on account of their religion.
“It is no wonder then that Alhaji Bola Tinubu thinks that the Bible is a book of jokes from which he can freely construct his “jokes” like his “Poisoned Holy Communion” and “Speaking in Tongues” jokes. If he is man enough, I challenge him to ridicule the Holy Qur’an even once as he freely does the Holy Bible. This guy has no respect for Christians and Christianity at all.”
According to Lawal, the APC same faith ticket goes against the grain of Nigerian politics which in practice had always sought to achieve a religious balance in its politics and governance.
He noted that all the other 17 political parties fielding presidential candidates have gone the way of established conventions and practices by fielding different-faith tickets.
He further said in their quest for justice and equity in the socio-political and religious space of the country, it is obvious that only the Obi/Datti ticket has the potential of speaking to the genuine clamour for power shift to the South-East and at the same time speak to the cry of marginalisation by people of the South-East.
The former SGF cautioned Nigerians against the temptation of being ruled by politicians recycling themselves, their children and their friends in a monarchal fashion, in and out of government to the exclusion of other segments of the society.
He further stated that “the Obi/Datti will give us a breath of fresh air and the greatest opportunity to redeem our country from the quagmire into which we have been plunged by a recurring group of self-centred reactionaries.
“There is also this palpable fear and anxiety over a possible transition of the current presidency from one Fulbe to another – same tribe, same religion, same region, same courtiers. This has given rise to a heightened fear of a possible perpetuation of a Fulbe hegemony in the country. Besides, there is the perception by many Nigerians that the Fulbe are the main actors in the banditry and kidnappings currently ravaging the country. Therefore, there is a widespread perception that another Fulbe-led government will not have the inclination or political will to address the country’s security challenges as a majority of the perpetrators are its kindred.”