In a religiously-divided Nigerian society Muslim-Muslim ticket is an issue

Chris Uba

For some times now the  Nigerian political space has been inundated  with debate over   the decision of the  presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed  Tinubu, to choose a Muslim as his running mate  for the 2023 election.

 Tinubu had on July 19, announced Kashim Shettima, a serving Senator and former governor of Borno State, as his running mate, sparking a swirl of arguments. Tinubu, like Shettima, is a Muslim. While some   Nigerians said they do not see anything wrong about the decision, others, especially Christians, said it is immoral and vowed not to support that arrangement. 

For those who support the decision, religion should not be an issue. What should matter is good governance. Nigeria needs good leadership to stir the affairs of the country irrespective of their religious affiliation; therefore, there is nothing wrong if the president and his vice share the same religious background. They cited the June 12, 1993 presidential election in which late MKO Abiola  won on Muslim-Muslim Ticket and 1984 military government that Muhammadu Buhari and his vice both of who Muslim as .  

But Christians , reacting under the aegis of Christian Association of Nigeria(CAN) say the situation in the country now is not suitable for a Muslim-Muslim ticket. The Council of Church Leaders and Ministers in Nigeria said that the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket is trampling on the religious rights of Nigerians.

The Chairman, Church Leaders and Ministers Fellowship of Nigeria, Pastor Abel Aiyedogbon, said “Our political leaders are not sensitive to the feelings of the citizens of the country because the behaviour of the political class most of the time evidently shows that personal ambition and interest are the overriding goal and not patriotism.”

Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, condemned the Muslim-Muslim ticket, describing it as reprehensible and a setback for national integration. An APC chieftain and ally to Tinubu, Babachir Lawan, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), described the Muslim-Muslim ticket as a satanic move, warning that Christians will vote against APC in the 2023 election.

CAN, in a statement  urged “that a balance of both religious practitioners be considered in the choice of running mates of the presidential candidates. We do not subscribe to Christian/Christian ticket or Muslim/Muslim ticket. Politicians can talk politics but we have stated our view long before now.

“Any party that tries same religion ticket will fail. This is not 1993. Even when we have joint Muslim/Christian ticket, the church still goes through hell. Only God knows the number of Christians that have been killed in the last seven years with no one apprehended or prosecuted.”

Justifying his decision, Tinubu, said although he is aware of the religious concerns about his choice of running mate, he does not believe that religion should be the deciding factor in choosing a running mate.

“Some have counselled that I should select a Christian to please the Christian community. Other(s) have said I should pick a Muslim to appeal to the Muslim community. Clearly, I cannot do both.

“Both sides of the debate have impressive reason and passionate arguments supporting their position. Both arguments are right in their own way. But neither is right in the way that Nigeria needs at the moment,” he wrote.

This submission ignores the socio-political composition of the country. Tinubu and APC ignore the centrifugal and centripetal forces that formed the basis for Nigerian federalism, religion being one of them. Nigeria is deeply divided along religious lines and , hence, makes religion a sensitive issue in the country.   

Nigeria is a conglomeration of people from different ethnic backgrounds with over 1000 languages and cultures along with various religious believe systems. It was these fissiparous tendencies that led to the adoption of a federal constitution in 1954.

The British, after noticing the failures of  the constitutional experiments of 1947-50 and 1951-53, decided that the constitutional experiment used in India should be implemented in the pre-independent Nigeria. The constitutional conferences of 1953 and 1954 arrived at federalism as the best option for the country.

 Federalism as a system of government is one in which there is a constitutional division of power between the central and constituent units that make up the union. In this arrangement, both the centre and units or sub-national states, draw their powers from the constitution.  So, federalism as adopted in Nigeria is a technology to bring about unity in diversity. In other words, it means while all the different groups remain in one country as people , they maintain their differences in terms of religions, cultures, languages among others.

Under the Nigerian federal arrangement, the units are made up of ethnic majorities and minorities with the former always wanting to dominate the latter in most cases using religion. Nigeria is divided into two major religion-Islam and Christianity. There are also non-adherents of either of the two.  The Northern part of the country is predominantly Islam with twelve states in the region adopting Sharia laws. The Southern states: South-East and South-South predominantly Christians unlike the South-West that is a mix of both Christians and Muslims.

Unfortunately, in spite of the factors that led to the adoption of federal principles, the 1999 Constitution is silent on the issue of Muslim-Muslim Ticket. It merely says that power should be rotated between the north and the south. The president and the vice president must not come from the same region. It is silent on religion in this regard. 

But , given the sensitivity of religion in the country , it should be a factor in the country’s political arrangement for the sake of peace and unity. Unlike ethnicity, religion is a potent force in the Nigerian politics.  In some part of the country, one cannot aspire to a political office if one is not an adherent of a particular religion. An instance is one of the north central states where a political aspirant  was told point-blank that he should not aspire to the post of governor because he is not a Muslim. The instances are deluge.

The 1999 constitution (as amended), may not have forbidden, Muslim-Muslim Ticket, it states that “The government of the federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons…”

The argument that Muslim-Muslim Ticket in 1984 and 1993 did not cause any problems does not hold water because they were both during the military era. Military government anywhere in the world is an aberration and as such not acceptable as a legitimate by the people.  Nobody can challenge the military under the circumstances, hence should not be cited at all.

The spur of the moment should not be allowed to becloud the unity of the country. Religion is a sensitive issue in Nigeria. Any politician that ignores it does not want the unity of the country.

Take the case of Lebanon where religion is a very serious issue.  Political offices are shared on religious lines. The office of the president is reserved for the Christian, while that of the speaker of the parliament and prime minister are for Shi’a Muslim and Sunni Muslim respectively.