A support group, National Unity Movement for Bola Ahmed Tinubu, says Nigerians should not misconstrue the selection of former Borno State governor, Senator Kashim Shettima, as the running mate to the APC presidential flagbearer, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as a ploy to Islamise the nation.
According to the group, Tinubu has a track record of being a detribalised Nigerian and will not toy with the idea to Islamise the country as feared in some quarters.
On Sunday, Tinubu had, after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura, Katsina State, announced Shettima as his running mate.
The APC presidential flagbearer’s decision has continued to elicit reactions from different stakeholders across the country.
But in a statement on Monday, NUMBAT’s Director General, Bamidele Faparusi, urged Nigerians to embrace national unity in diversity, national integration and cohesion regardless of their differences.
The group’s DG was reacting to a statement by a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Segun Showunmi, who faulted Tinubu for settling for a fellow Muslim as his vice presidential candidate.
He said Tinubu was a “detribalised Nigerian, a great patriot, a great bridge builder and unifier, a religious tolerant man, and a believer in one God, one humanity,” stressing that the former Lagos governor appointed non- indigenes into his cabinet, a gesture that had proved him to be the man Nigerians could trust.
“Even with a Muslim-Muslim ticket, without having any fear of religious domination and suppression, we are conscious of the secularity status of Nigeria, and Tinubu is best positioned to protect our secular state,” he said.
According to Faparusi, who is a former National Assembly member, “Placing competence and merit above religious and ethnic consideration in choosing leaders that would steer the affairs of the nation in the right direction is what Nigerians should consider while voting in 2023.”
He urged Nigerians to get their Permanent Voter Cards and vote massively for Tinubu in 2023, saying the APC flagbearer was the only one among the presidential hopefuls who had deep understanding of Nigeria, its diversity and challenges and possessed the capacity to fix the country to everyone’s satisfaction.
NUMBAT, which is working together with other patriotic citizens across religious and ethnic divides to promote national unity in diversity ahead of the 2023 general elections, said it was supporting the APC presidential candidate because of his detribalised and religious-tolerant nature.
