By Dele Sobowale
“I will be fair to all.” Tinubu, Sunday Vanguard, July 10, 2022.
That Asiwaju Bola Tinubu opted for a Muslim-Muslim ticket after winning the election primaries of the All Progressives Congress, APC, was not a surprise to me. I expected it, even as I was predicting that he would emerge as the flag-bearer for the APC. Several reasons account for this but they all come to the same thing: Tinubu is an unrepentant Muslim bigot; as I will explain later fully.
So, for me, the issue is not Muslim-Muslim, M-M, ticket as such.
It is Tinubu at the head of that ticket. In my opinion, he cannot be trusted to
be fair to Christians. His words and actions in the past demonstrate the fact
that Christians allowing themselves to be lulled to sleep by the illogical
statements of Tinubu’s supporters will regret it later. To be blunt; I don’t
believe that Tinubu will be fair to all. That is the sort of politicians’
promise which only gullible individuals will swallow. He has never been fair to
Christians – except the few who received crumbs from his table.
*First a diversion
“Money makes everything
legitimate; including bastards.”
Jewish
proverb, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 163.
Let me quickly explain here that I am not referring to the
controversy regarding anybody’s father here. I am challenging the
bastardisation of logic by those who hitherto were opposed to Muslim-Muslim
ticket, but, who now embrace it because a wealthy candidate champions it. Even
the Abiola-Kingibe ticket was shoved down our throats with tons of money. Let a
poor man try it and we will see how many of the hypocrites endorsing
Muslim-Muslim ticket will embrace it. Furthermore, is it a coincidence or
deliberate action that the idea has been muted by a Yoruba Muslim? No Northern
Muslim has ever proposed it.
The first and only Christian-Christian ticket was proposed by
late Chief Awolowo, who as the Presidential candidate of the Unity Party of
Nigeria, UPN. Awolowo’s running mate was late Chief Phillip Umeadi, SAN, an
Igbo, Christian from Anambra State. History would record that the ticket
received less than 3 per cent of the votes in the South East. The bulk went to
the Nigerian Peoples Party, NPP – led by Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe. Nationally, the
ticket faired a little better only in predominantly Christian states. Was it a
coincidence that Awo/ Umeadi got less than one percent in Sokoto and
Kaduna?
Despite that preamble, I can categorically state that my votes
went to M-M tickets in the past several times. Two prominent among them were
Jakande-Jafojo ticket for Governor/ Deputy Governor of Lagos State in 1979 and
1983. I was old enough to know they were Muslims. I even worked for the
campaigns and travelled 45 kilometres on election days to Agbowa-Ikosi to vote
for them. Abiola/Kingibe ticket on the platform of the Social Democratic Party,
SDP, in 1993 got me travelling again. Neither Jakande nor Abiola ever did me
any favours; and it did not matter. I trusted them; so the religion did not
matter.
Finally, from August 1994 till Abacha died in 1998, I wrote
several articles on these pages defending Abiola/Kingibe mandate; went to
detention four times; could have lost my life at DMI despite the fact that it
was a Muslim-Muslim ticket that I, a Christian, was defending. I don’t need any
lectures from anybody, please. At any rate, there are other reasons why I find
this ticket hard to support. Here are a few for now.
*Trust is a
major quality in national leaders.
Trust is a matter of bets about future actions based on
experience…A track record of keeping promises is a good predictor. Rosabeth
Kanter, Editor, Harvard Business Review. Sep-Oct 1992.
I had no problem with all the other Muslim-Muslim tickets
because they were trusted. Among the elements of the trust were their clear
antecedents. Most people knew their life histories from birth to the day of the
elections of 1979, 1983 and 1993. None of those who want to brow-beat
Christians to accept the current M-M can provide a straight narrative from birth
to date of the two candidates which is unquestionable. Only someone who can be
trusted can expect people to follow him down a dangerous alley. And, nothing
can be more politically perilous than M-M in the wrong hands. Tinubu does not
provide the degree of confidence that I need to believe that he will be fair to
all – not just Christians; but other Muslims who don’t belong to his own
faction of Islam. Furthermore, he has always favoured a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
That to him is always the best ticket. I will provide the proof shortly.
I would not be bothered if Saraki, Fashola, Makarfi, Tambuwal or
Banire were the leaders of the M-M team. They are Muslims whose antecedents
provide re-assurance. One of the advocates of M-M used Kaduna State, where
El-Rufai rammed through M-M ticket as example to prove it works. Like most
purveyours of half-truths, he failed to tell readers that Kaduna was peaceful
before El-Rufai’s ill-advised M-M ticket. It is hell on earth now. So are
Katsina, Niger and Zamfara – all governed by M-M tickets. The road to hell is
sometimes paved by good-intention idealists; who make decisions based on what
they hope Nigeria will be, rather than what it is.
So, why the opposition to Tinubu’s M-M ticket?
*Governor Tinubu 1999-2007
“Even God cannot change the
past.” Agathon, 447-401BC.
If you want to guess what a man will do in the future, then,
take a look at what he did in the past. Tinubu was Governor of Lagos State from
1999 to 2007. He left footprints on the sands of that period which no amount of
propaganda can erase in my own mind – starting with the treatment of his
Christian Deputy Governors.
Ms Kofo Akerele-Bucknor was the first to taste the humiliation
which he dished out to everyone unfortunate to be his Christian Deputy
Governor. He made it clear, right from the first day in office, that the Second
In Command, 2i/c, was not the person elected as his Deputy, and a Lagos State
person, but the carpet-bagger he installed as the Chief of Staff. Only in
Tinubu’s tenure was the office of Chief of Staff occupied by a non-indigene of
that state. Lai Mohammed from Kwara, a Muslim of course, was the de facto 2i/c
in Lagos. That was not all. It did not take long for everybody to know that the
“Kitchen cabinet” consisted of Mohammed, Aregbesola (from Osun), and Banire –
all Muslims.
There is no need to list all the names of the heads of all major
parastatals of the state; but they were mostly Muslims; so were the Permanent
Secretaries and Directors. The Civil Service, which was divided almost 50-50 in
1999 – Muslims and Christians – was already skewed to 60- 40 in favour of
Muslims when Tinubu finished his second term in 2007.
His chosen successor was Babatunde Fashola, a Muslim, who had
succeeded Lai as Chief of Staff. Following Tinubu’s footsteps, Fashola also
appointed a Muslim as Chief of Staff from 2007 to 2015 with Tinubu’s tacit
approval. If Tinubu and Fashola had their way, another Muslim would have been
Governor in 2015. Only the spirited efforts made by some courageous Christians
and I changed their plans; and Ambode emerged as the Governor. What happened to
Ambose is now history; but not a story which should make any Christian to trust
Tinubu to be fair. Those Christians claiming to trust him are welcome to their
delusions; but they can count me out.
There is another reason, more recent, that should alarm all of
us.
*Recent
utterances to fellow muslims.
It is baffling to me how those asking us to forget religion and
accept the M-M ticket of the APC could have forgotten so quickly what Tinubu
himself said early this year. So, let me remind all of us that I raised the
alarm to Christians in March of this year in the article cited below.
*“Every
Christian must read this”
“A presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, APC,
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has charged Supreme Council for Sharia in the country to
create department of political affairs to create political awareness among
faithful towards producing a Muslim President in 2023.” News Report, March 20,
2022.
The address, delivered on Tinubu’s behalf has revealed a mindset
which most Nigerians, especially Christians, have failed to notice in Asiwaju
Tinubu. There are several aspects to it; but, permit me to point to only a few
which are terribly disturbing for someone seeking to be our President. The most
obvious can be deduced from the report. Tinubu will be President for Muslims
only. Christians and traditional worshippers will not count.”
From facts available to me from reliable sources within Islamic
groups, Tinubu has followed that injunction to the Supreme Council for Sharia,
by making secret pledges to expand the reach of Sharia to more Southern States
if elected. Heads of States Alkali Courts have been mobilised politically and
financially to ensure his victory in 2023 – not because he is the best
candidate but because he is a Muslim. That campaign is still going on
fiercely.
During the Lamentation of Emilokan, Tinubu confessed that he
supported Buhari in the hope that he would be nominated as Vice President, VP.
So, the emergence of a Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2022, with Tinubu as
Presidential candidate, was not an error of judgment by Tinubu; it is an
affirmation of a strongly held belief that only Muslims should rule Nigeria. I
have nothing but pity for those Christians who are prepared to accept second
class citizenship under the government that would emerge. And he has a
soul-mate in Shettima – who,
in my opinion, is a Muslim jihadist, if ever there is one.
*Why APC
lost in Osun
“Vote for Oyetola because
he is a Muslim.” Governor Ganduje of Kano State.
Many armchair analysts have offered several reasons why the
incumbent governor of Osun State lost the election. They overlooked a major
contributor to his loss – which should give Tinubu a pause for re-think. Among
the invaders, who shared the podium with Oyetola and Tinubu, was Governor
Ganduje of Kano State. He urged the people of Osun to vote for Oyetola, not
because he performed well (given the resources at his disposal), but, because
he is a Muslim. My phone started ringing; calls were coming from Christians
from Osun; who were ready to vote for Oyetola. Ganduje’s announcement changed
their minds. Now, Tinubu’s fixation on Muslim-Muslim ticket has shown its true
face in Osun. Over 70 per cent of Christian votes went to Adeleke, also a
Muslim, on account of Ganduje’s reckless utterances. Tinubu now runs a great
risk of losing Osun State in 2023 on account of the M-M ticket.
There is more to come on this issue.
*As for me
and my house…
“Hypocrisy is saying one
thing and secretly doing something else.”
I don’t dispute other people’s religion with them; neither do I
want anybody to bother me with their views about Tinubu and his M-M ticket.
Like most Christians, I take my religion seriously; and M-M is objectionable to
me because of this particular team – Tinubu and Shettima. Christianity will be
in danger.
So to me, on this occasion a vote for this M-M ticket, by any
Christian, will amount to a vote against Jesus. Those who do it can,
thereafter, forget Jesus. They should instead pray in the name of their
political god when trouble comes – as it does to all people.
LAST LINE. Has
anybody bothered to ask, why we are always disputing Muslim-Muslim ticket and
not Christian-Christian? That should tell those self-deluded Christians who
contend that religion does not matter something. They are backing a candidate who
strongly believes that Islam is everything.
*Sobowale is a commentator on public issues
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