By Nicholas Ojo
A support group under the auspices of Aggrieved Northern APC Christians has endorsed the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi ahead of the 2023 elections.
The group recommended that its members and their supporters back Labor Party against APC’s same-faith ticket, noting that “it is a ploy to further sow discord among Northerners using the most potent weapon of social discord – religion”.
The group in a statement titled “Why we have chosen to endorse the Obi/Datti ticket” signed Thursday by one of its leaders, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, said it came to the decision of supporting Peter Obi and his running mate Yusus Datti Baba-Ahmed after a painstaking review and analysis of the alternative tickets.
ALSO READ: 2023: Newly-released documents nail APC candidate, Bola Tinubu
The group alleged that Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress “has no respect for Christians and Christianity at all”, stressing that “Tinubu thinks that the Bible is a book of jokes from which he can freely construct his “jokes” like his “Poisoned Holy Communion” and “Speaking in Tongues” jokes”.
They, however, challenged him to ridicule the Holy Quran even once as he freely does the Holy Bible.
It advised against voting for the APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu whom it described as a renowned Yoruba-hegemonist who championed the establishment of a Ministry of Regional Integration in each state government of the South-west geopolitical region and his running mate Kashim Shettima whom they quoted as once saying “restructuring my foot, let’s restructure our minds”.
The group said it believes that the Obi/Datti ticket will give Nigeria a breath of fresh air and the greatest opportunity to redeem the country from the quagmire into which it has been plunged by a recurring group of self-centred reactionaries.
“APC’s same-faith ticket is a ploy to further sow discord among Northerners using the most potent weapon of social discord – religion. As Karl Max once said – “religion is the opium of the people”.
“Nigerians from all shades of society must see this Tinubu/Kashim same-faith ticket as a proposal from the pit of hell that can only be conjured by the most Machiavellian minds known to man and therefore must be rejected wholesome by all lovers of our country and its nascent democracy.
“On the other hand, Alhaji Kashim Shetima, Tinubu’s Vice Presidential running mate is a man who once said, “restructuring my foot, let’s restructure our minds”. For eight years he presided over Borno State at a time when Boko Haram was overrunning the state almost at will and restructuring the minds of its victims against Christianity and western education.
“The kidnapped Chibok and Dapchi girls and many more are now slowly trickling out of captivity in the Boko Haram indoctrination camps fully Islamised and carrying children born into Islam in captivity – a true example of “mind restructuring” if there ever was one.
“There is also this little matter of an allegation of a very close relationship or otherwise between the Vice Presidential candidate of APC and Boko Haram! And, which Christian can forget one Kabiru Sokoto the alleged Boko Haram kingpin accused of complicity in the Christmas bombing of St Theresa Catholic Church, Madallah that resulted in 44 deaths and 77 injured Christian worshippers? Or that the said Kabiru Sokoto was eventually arrested at his hiding place in the Borno State Government Lodge Abuja? Are Christians not justified in being scared of a government run by this duo?
“Surely, APC’s same-faith ticket is intended to shame Christians and bestow on them and their religion a second-class socio-political status in their own country.
“In particular, it is a validation of the discrimination and oppression being meted out on Northern Nigerian Christians where they are now denied employment, promotion, contracts, and admission to read prestigious and marketable courses in government-owned schools simply on account of their religion.
“It is no wonder then that Alhaji Bola Tinubu thinks that the Bible is a book of jokes from which he can freely construct his “jokes” like his “Poisoned Holy Communion” and “Speaking in Tongues” jokes. If he is man enough, I challenge him to ridicule the Holy Quran even once as he freely does the Holy Bible. This guy has no respect for Christians and Christianity at all.
“This APC ticket goes against the grain of Nigerian politics which in practice (if not in law) has always sought to achieve a religious balance in its politics and governance.
“It is worth noting that all the other seventeen political parties fielding presidential candidates have gone the way of established conventions and practices by fielding different-faith tickets. Truly except for its incitement to social disharmony, there is no sense at all in APC’s same faith ticket.
“Furthermore, in our quest for justice and equity in the socio-political and religious space of the country, it is obvious that only the Obi/Datti ticket has the potential of speaking to the genuine clamour for power shift to the South-East and at the same time speak to the cry of marginalisation by our people of the South-East.
“Obviously, a Christian/Muslim presidency like the Obi/Datti one will be most appropriate at this stage of our political journey more so since we are now transiting from a Muslim/Christian presidency. It will also achieve the regional shift of the presidency from the current NW/SW to a SE/NW presidency as popularly being canvassed. This is justice; this is equity. This is political engineering at its best and one that engineers peace and harmonious co-existence of the various socio-political and religious classes of our nation.
ALSO READ: PHOTOS: Like ‘Judas’, Soludo hugs Peter Obi in Akwa
“Nigerians must be awake to these very dangerous campaign trends because any of the political parties that come into government by pandering to ethnic or religious sentiments may not be able to govern successfully and might further accentuate the social cleavages.
“Men of good conscience should therefore look to opportunities that unite rather than divide us. Only the Labor Party presents this opportunity. We, therefore, call on all patriots to labor for our country in this presidential election. Nigeria’s future is at stake in this presidential election. Obi-Datti is the only way to go. All other ways lead to perdition,” the statement partly read.