There is no precedent ever of a Southern Muslim that picked a Northern Christian as a Vice Presidential (VP) candidate and won a presidential election in the history of Nigeria. There is however a precedent of a Southern Muslim that picked a Northern Muslim as VP in 1993 (Muslim-Muslim ticket) and won the Presidential election – free and fair. Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola defeated his Northern Muslim opponent, Bashir Othman Tofa, right in his home state of Kano and in most parts of the North in the 1993 presidential election.
The divisive ethnic and religious tension that is pervasive in Nigeria today was the very dominant metric that defined the Nigeria of 1993, unfortunately. Children of the internet age may not know this.
In aggregate number, Muslims are a minority in Southern Nigeria. Asking a Southern minority to pick a Northern minority as his deputy in an election to be decided solely by numbers is a tactical anomaly.
Moreover, the South West of Nigeria possesses tolerance sophistication unmatched by her peers. If the bipartisan meetings I have witnessed in the past 3 days are anything to go by, which involved APC and PDP members and many that have never identified with any political parties, I do not doubt that the South West will be locked down for Tinubu, regardless of his choice of a VP. But that is just the South West – which alone cannot make anyone a President.
Overall, Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s best route to victory in 2023 is to pick a Northern Muslim as his running mate. Just as MKO Abiola, a Southern Muslim did in 1993. At the risk of being accused of wanton generalization, the position of a VP is that of a spare tire. They are hardly in use. As a mitigating factor, Tinubu could be prevailed upon to employ his legendary political capabilities and strategies to seek the support of members of the legislature and ensure that the national assembly’s leadership – Senate President and Speaker, are Christians. This will assuage the feelings of Christians and promote fairness.
It is also pertinent to observe that Tinubu, though a practicing Muslim, is by marriage a Christian affiliate. Tinubu’s wife, Pastor (Mrs). Oluremi Tinubu, is an ordained pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG). If any professed Christian thinks this does not matter, such an individual is acting at variance with the scripture – for once they are joined as man and wife, they become one. These are the very words of Jesus Christ in Mathew 19:5.
I concede that humans naturally get emotionally attached to their overarching sentiments and legitimately so. It is on this note that I call upon the leadership of the Nigerian Christian community to extract irrevocable commitments from Tinubu on the strategic balancing that could be accomplished in the other arms of government as earlier suggested.
Gatekeepers News is not liable for opinions expressed in this article, they’re strictly the writer’s.
