The Congress of Northern Nigeria Christians (CNNC) has strongly condemned the All Progressives Congress (APC) over its decision to fly a Muslim/ Muslim ticket in the forthcoming 2023 presidential election which has Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Alhaji Abdullahi Umar Ganduje as presidential and vice presidential candidates respectively.
CNNC made its position clear in a press release it made available to News Band yesterday and signed by its Director of Publicity, Engr. Dr. Iliya Yusuf.
In the statement, CNNC called on all non-Muslims and Muslims alike, who are disturbed over the incessant carnage perpetrated on Nigerians, to come out in resistance to this evil plan and vote a party with a national ideology for peace and lasting security.
The group argued that equal representation of the two major religions in the presidency is sacrosanct and should not be toyed with.
It insisted that Muslim/ Christian ticket is not negotiable as doing otherwise will be clear that there is an Islamic party and Christians will have to abandon such party.
CNNC recalled that that the APC presidential candidate, Alhaji Tinubu mouthed the idea during his visit to Kano before the primary election and warned that it will stoutly oppose any group of people advocating for such.
The statement reads in full:
“The Congress of Northern Nigeria Christians has been following with keen interest the heated media argument brought about by the pressure for APC presidential candidate to consider a Muslim/Muslim ticket for next year election.
This pressure is mostly coming from some Islamic clerics with hot treats on the matter.
It is also on record that the APC presidential candidate, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu mentioned this idea in his visit to Kano before the primary election.
The Congress of Northern Nigeria Christians is stoutly opposed to any group of people advocating for a Muslim/ Muslim ticket in any party on the Presidency of this Country.
The Congress is, therefore, strongly advocating for peaceful coexistence and religious tolerance to be maintained on the context of the following:
Even though Christians are more in number both in the North and in the country in general, we are not advocating for a Christian/ Christian ticket based on fairness and equity for everyone;
Muslim/ Christian presidency has been a leadership tradition in this country since the era of the military to date, due to the ethnic and religious heterogeneous nature of our country. This employed equal representation of the two major religions in the presidency as sacrosanct;
Religious supremacy has been a long historical contention in this country. This has been the root cause of a deep religious disagreement that has escalated to the present incessant terrorist activities and kidnappings. The Muslim/ Muslim ticket, presented with some militant undertone could easily be understood as the offshoot of enforcing the supremacy idea of one religion over the other;
Based on the high population of Christians in this country, the Muslim/ Christian ticket is not negotiable, to do otherwise, will be clear that there is an Islamic party and Christians would be forced to abandon such a party;
The Congress notes with grief, the present terror targeted on churches and its leaders. This evil action, we believe is to drastically reduce Christian population which the incessant terrorists’ activities and kidnappings have not achieved, to get some numerical advantage in the election.
The threat and abusive language by some Muslim clerics, on the non-Muslim, calling them “Arna, infidels, which disdainfully stands for animals, idiots, useless or any derogatory name, is senseless and highly condemnable. Such blasphemous words on human beings are unreasonable and unnecessary in the 21stThe idea of Muslim/ Muslim ticket presented in this manner reveals an unimaginable evil plan behind it. The long time plan to Islamize this country is no longer a myth. The Christians are known as ‘The People of the Book’. Why do you call the Christians ‘arna’? This must stop.
CNNC is strongly calling on all non-Muslims and Muslims, a lot of them who are disturbed over the incessant carnage perpetrated on Nigerians, to come out in resistance to this evil plan and vote a party with a national ideology for peace and lasting security.
We call on the government to wake up to its responsibility ensuring peaceful coexistence by arresting and prosecuting these preachers who are using hate language that can impair the present insecurity.
The Christians are not in support and will never support a Christian/ Christian ticket as we are taught to love one another and be our brothers’ keepers. We call on all Christians to come out en mass to register and vote during the 2023 general elections because your votes will count.”