A former spokesman of the senate and National Chairman of the South West Agenda for Asiwaju Tinubu (SWAGA), Senator Dayo Adeyeye, has said the emergence of Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Kashim Shettima as presidential candidate and running mate respectively of the APC for the 2023 polls is not an agenda to Islamise Nigeria.
The choice of Shettima, a Muslim from the North, as running mate to Tinubu, a Muslim from the South, has received heavy bashing from individuals, groups and especially the Christian community.
A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, who is an ally of Tinubu, described the Muslim-Muslim ticket as “satanic”.
But Senator Adeyeye said there was nothing satanic about Tinubu’s decision to pick Shettima as his running mate, noting that the idea of having people of same faith for a joint ticket was not new to Nigerian politics.
Speaking at a media parley in Abuja at the weekend, Adeyeye said, “Asiwaju Tinubu cannot Islamise Nigeria because he doesn’t have such antecedence as Governor of Lagos State for eight years. As a matter of fact, his administration returned the missionary schools to the original owners.
“Also, if Tinubu could not Islamise his wife, how will he Islamise the entire country? His wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, is not only a Christian but a top official of the church she attends.”
Meanwhile, elders of the APC in Yobe State have said those who had vowed to work against the nomination of Shetima were fanning embers of disunity in the North East and Nigeria as a country.
Leader of the elders, Hon Sidi Yakubu Karasuwa, who spoke with Daily Trust in a telephone interview, said, “The position of the so-called leaders is unfortunate given their self-assumed pedigree as elder statesmen in the North East.
He described Shettima as the best-fit running mate to Tinubu, while calling on all well-meaning Nigerians to support the duo for a better Nigeria.
He said, “In fact, Senator Shettima is indeed a round peg in a round hole. We are going to embark on massive mobilisation for the party, the presidential candidate and his running mate and we are sure of victory in the general elections, God willing.”