Christian Northern Nigeria Political Forum (CNNPF) is a child of necessity formed to serve as the voice of Northern Christians in the political front in order to be heard, listened to and represented in the governance in Northern part of Nigeria It is an organization put together by the 
Christians from the nineteen northern states to unite Christians, to bring back Christians into the mainstream of Nigeria’s politics and to correct the erroneous belief of some sections of the Christian faith that the emergence of Bola/Shettima ticket of All Progressives Congress (APC) Muslim-Muslim ticket is an aberration and should be rejected at the poll.The issue relating to the APC fielding/pairing Muslim-Muslim candidates for its presidential ticket has generated hot debates across the country and this has warranted this Forum to take position that will benefit all Christians. The misconception about same faith candidacy was orchestrated by some few and very callous Christians who aimed at becoming the vice presidential candidate to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (now President-elect) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria but suddenly got disappointed with the choice of Senator Kashim Shettima, a Muslim like Tinubu himself. The All Progressives Congress (APC) was looking for the population and the man with the charisma that would give the party the numbers or advantage to win an election and Senator Shettima emerged clearly. Religion has never been a yardstick for Asiwaju Tinubu to pick his aides but rather he looks for competency. If he had to think of religion first, then Tinubu won’t have married Senator Oluremi Tinubu or he won’t have supported Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Hon. James Abiodun Faleke, H.E. Adams Aliyu Oshiomole, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, Mr. Sunday Dare, Mr. Dele Alake, H.E. Ambode, H.E. Babajide Sanwoolu, H.E. Kayode Fayemi and a host of others who are Christians for their political ambitions in life. In a nutshell, Tinubu choice of a Muslim is a form of strategy to win election and not an attempt to relegate the Christians to the background, it is not part of him and he has no intention to do so. In South –West where Tinubu comes from, religious differences have never been an issue because in an extended family you will see Muslims, Christians and traditionalists, they co-exist peacefully. One thing is very clear to us in CNNPF is that Christians will be accorded their rightful positions in Tinubu’s new government even better than what the outgoing government of President Muhammadu Buhari did for themInitially, this Association did not as a matter of fact admire the Muslim-Muslim ticket, but we realized, that we are Christians inspired by the words of God to go into politics, as politics is “about who gets what and how” by Laswel, we thought that we must remain or join the APC or smuggle ourselves in to speak on behalf of the Christians from the northern region on matters affecting us. Today, the APC has been declared by INEC as the winner of the 2023 presidential election, our presence in APC is required to protect the interests of our people (the Christians) under the administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu at least for the next four years.It was on this bases we took our decision to massively support the APC presidential candidate Bola/Shettima ticket notwithstanding the misconceptions about what some individuals were preaching against same faith ticket, in the first place, we are politicians in APC, secondly, we realized Oluremi Bola Tinubu is a renowned senior pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) and greater number of their children are Christians. Remember too that Oluremi caused the construction of a Chapel at Government House Alausa, Ikeja when Tinubu was governor of Lagos State.Our Association (CNPPF) met several times to take position on which party and candidate to support. After several debates and critical analysis, we concluded to start correcting some of these misconceptions that Muslim-Muslim ticket was evil, and an attempt to islamize Nigeria and that if Muslims were allowed to rule Nigeria for consecutive 10 years, Nigeria will become a member of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) automatically, forgetting that Nigeria is a plural society, we operate democracy and ruled by laws under a constitution. It must be noted that some evil-minded politicians use religion to exploit the common man to create division and anarchy. Islam and Christianity are world closest religions in terms of background and doctrines. Our advocacy started in Kaduna by bringing all our Christian brothers and sisters from the 19 northern states of the Federation for lectures on the reasons for the Muslim-Muslim ticket as a strategy only to win election, not to undermine the importance of the Christians and the leadership of the Church and that Nigerian Christians should reject the position of both Rt. Hon. Dogara and Mr. Lawal Babachair (both Christians) on their stand on Muslim-Muslim joint ticket of the APC. Note that the two personalities were strong members of the APC but eventually decamped to other political parties for selfish and self-seeking ambitions.Nigerians were more divided in the last Presidential election conducted by INEC because the three major tribes were on the ballot, religion and sectionalism were strong factors that almost tore us apart, everyone voted on the above lines.Lessons have been learnt, experience gained, no matter the outcome of the exercise of our political struggle through competent courts of the land, we should agree at a point that we have a President-elect as allowed by God per time to rule this country as time and chance permits.CNNPF is also appealing to those that equally participated in the presidential election to reason and work together for the development of Nigeria, a country where we can be proud of, every one of us must join hands together to salvage this country for the benefit of all. Northern Christians cannot sit on the fence, our presence must be felt because the Bible has identifies us as the light and the salt of the world, then, why should we shy away from our responsibilities? We must embrace and engage other faiths for the progress of humanity.Our appeal to the president-elect is to be magnanimous in victory by bringing the best of Nigerians together, irrespective of political parties, ethnicities and religious background. Tinubu must not renege on his promise to be fair to all during his electioneering campaigns around the country. God has brought Tinubu at a time like this to heal the wounds inflicted on Nigerians by successive governments.Before I conclude this write-up, I want to expressly thank and appreciate these good friends of CNNPF who have used their precious time and resources to support our past meetings namely: Rt. Hon. Aminu Sani Jaji representing Karuwa Namoda Birnin Magaji constituency, a Muslim, who sponsored that programme as well as Alh. Ibrahim Kabir Masari and Hon. Aliyu Musa, Hon. Commissioner of Health, Zamfara State. They all abandoned their responsibilities to ensure that programme was held. Our most profound gratitude’s goes to Rt. Hon. Aminu Sani Jaji who out rightly sponsored the massive mobilization for the programme.Finally, congratulations to all national and State coordinators for your resilience and dexterity to own up when the ovation was loudest to support Bola/Shettima ticket.Your labour of love will not be swept under the carpet, congratulations to everyone that contributed in no small way even without a dime given to the organization, may God Almighty reward you all accordingly.God bless Nigeria, God bless Christian Northern Nigeria Political Forum.To my fellow Nigerians, I pray God will calm our nerves, whatever happens to us as Christians or Muslims is known to God,” All things work for good for the benefits of those who believe and are called according to His purpose. Romans 8: 28.its on this note I rest my case.Finally, CNNPF is using this unique medium to congratulate the President-elect His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his victory at the poll, God will give you the strength to carry on the task ahead of you.
Hon Ibrahim Itodo Deputy National Coordinator.