2023: Bishop Kukah Condemns APC Muslim-Muslim Ticket, Says Its Unacceptable

The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah condemned the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket adopted by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Kukah Slams APC Over Muslim-Muslim Presidential Ticket

KanyiDaily recalls that APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu had picked his fellow Muslim, Kashim Shettima, a former Borno State Governor, as his running mate for the 2023 general election.

The development elicited outrage from key stakeholders, particularly the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and several Christians within the party.

APC bigwigs like Babachir Lawal and Yakubu Dogara have also kicked against the choice while describing it as a slight on northern Christians.

Speaking on the issue when he appeared on “Politics Today” a programme on Channels Television, on Thursday, Bishop Kukah faulted the APC for creating an artificial divide between Christians and Muslims and mismanaging the country’s identities.

The Catholic bishop said the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket of the 1993 election has been “over-exagerrated” to assume that Nigerians don’t care about religion.

He said, “In 1993 that you were talking about… I think Nigerians have gotten to a point like we have under Abacha, where we do whatever is required to get the military out. We’re going to do it. I think we have exaggerated our interpretation of what happened in 1993. Because we always have this dubious interpretation that this is evidence that Nigerians don’t care about religion.

“Maybe that was what was illustrated, but moving forward, the question I’m asking my friends who are Muslims and it’s a very simple question, especially those of us who are from northern Nigeria. Will Muslims in Nigeria or northern Nigeria be ready to make the same concession that Christians made in 1984, in 1993, and they have now been asked to make the same constitution.

“You have to understand this against the backdrop of what has happened to this country in the last seven years. You know, when you look at the squandered opportunities when you look at the way power has been distributed, when you look at the way this government has allocated opportunities in the broad spectrum of Nigeria against the wider backdrop of the crisis that we’re in now, ordinarily, the least we should be talking about is whether our next president is going to be a Christian or a Muslim.

“But as a Christian, I can tell you very frankly that the decision that the APC took, naturally, I felt astonished. The candidates in question and I might also say without sounding arrogant that I know all the presidential candidates, at least the prominent presidential candidates that are out there…It is unfortunate that two illustrious people like Asiwaju Tinubu and my friend, Kashim Shettima, should have to face this whole dilemma because it’s not their own making. But I feel that the sheer insensitivity that brought us to this point speaks to the fact that somehow our people are not aware of the volatility they have created in the system.

“I think that as a Christian, this is totally reprehensible and is not acceptable to me because of the sort of the decision the APC has made. When the campaign started, we’ll hear what people have to say, but it has just laid the foundation for what has taken us back after the kind of progress that we made in terms of national integration.”

Kukah said the country’s politicians have been at liberty to operate at their current height of wanton corruption because of citizens’ tolerance, a disposition not common in other parts of the world.

“Let me put it very clearly, we still have a terribly long way to go. The tragedy that afflicts our country now is not a tragedy that we’re going to resolve so quickly. But our politicians must also realise that they are lucky to live in a country like Nigeria, where we have internal instruments and mechanisms of restraint that stop us from going out and picking up the violent option.

“Nigerians deserve tremendous credit for the ability to live with the rascality that passes for governance in this country. The humongous amount of theft of state’s resources has become the reason why people are struggling to get to power,” the cleric said.

He described the country’s much-discussed division as largely artificial which has never been more mismanaged by any government than Mr Buhari-led government.

The cleric agreed that religious manipulation by politicians has become “part and parcel of our politics” but challenged Nigerians who voted on such grounds to evaluate the dividends of such a decision.

“So I think the most important thing is for Nigerians to become much more circumspect to appreciate the fact that politicians will do what politicians do everywhere in the world, that is to play on the sentiments of people and use them as instruments for mobilizing cornering power, but increasingly as such, if you live in Nigeria, you know that that Nigerian politician is concerned with three things myself, myself and myself.

“So it’s really a question of what they made just getting wiser and sidestepping some of these landmines,” Mr Kukah said.

Meanwhile, Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong said despite being a staunch Catholic, he is proud to lead APC’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket campaign.