Mohammed Oluwatimileyin Taoheed reports,
Kayode Fayemi, the Governor of Ekiti State, has made known his support for the Muslim-Muslim ticket taken by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming 2023 general election.
Recall our earlier report that the presidential candidate of APC, Bola Tinubu, had declared and unveiled Senator Kashim Shettima, a former two-term Governor of Borno State, as his running mate as at Wednesday.
Since Tinubu, who is a Muslim from the South West chose Shettima (another Muslim from the North East), scuffle has been staked online with criticism from individuals, Christain groups and organisations.
Fayemi revealed his position on the issue while speaking on Friday during a courtesy visit by the new executives of the Ekiti State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), adding that the decision of the ruling APC was done based on political strategy.
Meanwhile, he noted that the decision was not taken to undermine Christians in the country, adding that Christians should be more involved in politics.
The governor claimed that the step was not on ground of competence because there are competent Christians all over the federation.
Fayemi claimed that he advised Tinubu and other APC leaders to approach the leadership in Christendom and clear the rationale behind Shettima’s choice.
“I have been talking to both the presidential candidate and other leaders of the party, that we need to take quick steps that we should have taken earlier, by approaching the leadership in Christendom and explain the context of the selection that was about to happen.
“Even if they don’t agree with our choice, they would have seen the sincerity of purpose and understood that the decision was not on ground of competence because we have competent Christians all over Nigeria but on grounds of strategic political moves, which is what we do in politics.
“We have to look at scenarios and calculate where the votes would come from, it is a game of numbers.
“I think it is time for Christians to move away from the theology of disengagement — the notion that politics is dirty and that it is not for a child of God.
“When serious Christians committed to the ideals of social justice and the common good turn away from politics, they open the door for unprincipled opportunists to take power.
“The Christian leadership should use this current challenge as an opportunity to present a charter of demands to all political candidates, especially our party (APC), outlining the irreducible minimum conditions acceptable to Christians in the next political dispensation — a charter of demands that would represent those values you preach to us in church highlighting our concerns, stressing the place of Christendom in the Nigeria project, and then placing our demands before the political leaders.
“I want the Church to organise debates around issues of concern among all the candidates.”
