As the All Progressives Congress and its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu make frantic efforts to get a running mate, a former Secretary-General of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Anthony Sani, has warned the ruling party against a Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 2023 presidential race.
Among other things, he said that such would further polarise the nation along religious lines.
He spoke during a press briefing on Monday in Jos.
According to Sani, to promote justice and fairness, it is natural and logical for the APC to pick its vice presidential candidate from the northern part of the country, but a Christian from the region.
He equally said that if the APC run a Muslim-Muslim ticket, it would negate the principle of federal character as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, amended.
He said, “I don’t think the choice of a running mate for the APC presidential candidate should be a problem because the constitution is clear about the principle of federal character that no group should dominate because such will not promote unity.
“So, for fairness and justice, since Sen. Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of APC is a Muslim from the southern part should pick a Christian from the northern part of the country as his running mate.
”A Muslim-Muslim ticket will not augur well for the unity of the country because the Christians in the northern part may feel marginalised and it is also not good for our democracy.”
Urging Tinubu to use his statesmanship and nationalistic character to ensure the right was done in the choice of his running mate, Sani called on advocates for a Muslim-Muslim ticket to jettison their stand for the sake of unity, fairness, and justice.