The President of Arewa Christians and Indigenous Pastors Association, Rev. Luke Shehu, has said the association was open to dialogue with the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Recall that Tinubu has faced a big criticism from Christians across the country over his discission to settle for a Muslim devote as his running mate.
However, in what looks like a move to calm the nerves of Christian bodies in the country, the APC national leader was said to have been consulting the Christian stakeholders in the country.
The Director of Media and Communications for Tinubu Campaign Organisation, Bayo Onanuga, said his principal has started consultations with relevant stakeholders, including religious bodies.
He added that the move was not in the media space in order to achieve the needed result on time.
“We are not publicising in the media. We are talking to the people concerned. The consultation process has started already. We are just not making a lot of noise about it because it is not meant for publication,” he said.
“When it is time, we will address the media. For now, we are talking to religious leaders. I am reassuring you again that the candidate is reaching out to everybody concerned,” he added.
Reacting to this, President of Arewa Christians and Indigenous Pastors Association, Rev. Shehu said though the association was yet to be contacted by Tinubu, it would welcome any move to engage them on the matter.
“Nobody among the Arewa Pastors was reached by Tinubu or any member of his team. However, we are open to talks and have no reservation about Tinubu or anybody visiting,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Christian Association of Nigeria’s General Secretary, Joseph Daramola has maintained that Tinubu and his group have not contacted CAN.
“I don’t know about that. I am in Abuja presently and I can tell you that I have not seen or met anybody that looks like Tinubu in person,” he said.
Daramola also refused to comment on whether CAN could be swayed into changing its stance on the controversial Muslim-Muslim ticket, saying they cannot speculate.