Nigerians in a couple of days to come will be going to the polls to elect their leaders or representatives into the various political offices in government for the next four years.
Many variables will come to play while the people vote for various persons and political parties. These variables include, experience, past records, exposure, quality of manifesto, special attributes of candidates and the strong zeal of candidates to bring the much desired positive changes to the nation.
This election is going to be the most keenly contested election in the country since Nigeria’s independence. This is so because there are three front runners for the presidency namely Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate; Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP). These three leading candidates represent the tripod tribal nature of Nigeria namely- Yoruba (West), Fulani/Hausa (North) and Igbo (South East).
There has been some trivial issues raised on all sides by all these parties to de -market or reduce their opponents (parties) to nothing during the course of campaigning at various states or locations, with the aim at reducing the chances of their opponents for easy victory in the February-March general elections. Key issues are left un-mentioned , which shouldn’t be.
One of the unnecessary and less important matters being discussed by politicians currently is the issue of the All Progressives Congress (APC) fielding Muslim-Muslim candidates for the presidential election, which has received series of bashes especially from some Christian organizations and individuals as if it was the first time persons with the same faith were been fielded or made candidates in Nigeria. No, this is not the first time such arrangement was used, it was used during the military era as well as in 1993 when Late M.K..O Abiola and Ambassador Babagana Kinigbe were made presidential and vice presidential candidates for the Social Democratic Party (S.D.P) and they won convincingly. Religion has never been a determining factor in our politics in the past, but unfortunately some present individuals running for offices are now using religion to campaign in order to whip up sentiments and for some electoral gains.
In some states in the North, we have both the governors and their deputies as Christians despite that certain percentage of the people are Moslems i.e. Plateau and Benue states, even in South West we have such state as Ekiti which has a large number of Moslems. All South-East and South-South regions have Christians al through as governors and deputies and nobody is complaining about that. Nigerians have no problem with the faith of any candidate, problems are created by politicians to further divide us for their selfish gain.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not a religious bigot, as a Moslem and a state governor, he instituted annual inter-denominational Christian Thanksgiving in Lagos State with Pastor E.A. Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) ministering every year. It continues till date. He has a wife who is a Christian and a senior minister in the Redeemed Christian Church of God. If Nigerians are looking for a detribalized politician who will give sense of belonging to all and serve the common interest of all, no presidential candidate for 2023 general elections in Nigeria can beat Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He was the first governor in Nigeria that appointed people from other tribes and states into his cabinet. Only Tinubu best serves the interest of all Nigerians. Nigerians need someone with varied experience, beyond serving in government Asiwaju has a sterling private sector record in Nigeria and around the world. For Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, religious bigotry, ethnic chauvinism, corruption and underdevelopment have no place in his dictionary. While serving as the governor of Lagos State, he gave opportunities to everyone to grow in Lagos State irrespective of religion, ethnic or state of origin. Under his leadership as the president of Nigeria come May 29th 2023, Nigerians will have equal chance before him in terms of appointments and financial support.
Someone like Tinubu has never see religion as a deciding factor in an election or appointment. Here is a man whose wife is a senior pastor and having a good number of his children as Christians, he allows freedom of worship for those around him. Remember too, he approved the erection of a Chapel in Government House at Alausa, Ikeja for government officials to worship in. Also, he donated monies to various religious bodies including Christian groups and even sent a number of Christians to Jerusalem and Rome to perform holy pilgrimage while he was the governor of Lagos State and even after leaving office. The same Tinubu once visited the Vatican City to see the Holy See with his dear wife. The same can be said about his running-mate, Senator Kassim Shettima himself a Moslem, who severally worked hard to protect the Christians during various attacks on them by the Boko Haram in Borno State when he served as the governor of the State. He visited and sympathized with them during such attacks and supported them financially to rebuild churches destroyed. For those politicians playing religious card to win election they will not succeed with the Tinubu-Shettima team because the duo are not religious extremists as they have gone beyond that.
The raging debate on whether Nigerians should support same-faith candidates or to have another Fulani man to take-over from Buhari is unnecessary because it is another attempt to heat up the polity by unscrupulous Nigerian politicians to create confusion amongst the electorate. Though, we may not blame Nigerians for debating it because a precedent has been set by President Muhammadu Buhari’s led by administration in the last seven and half years that came on board to promote what seems to many Nigerians as ethnic and religious agenda, this could be seen through various appointments he made in some major critical areas. This is the fear of many Nigerians and they are ready to avoid it in this coming election. Nigerians must think very deeply while making their choice.
Conclusively, Nigerians during the election time should focus on who will promote their development, peace, unity, progress, justice, employment for our teeming youths and fix infrastructure. Religion, ethnic and other primordial issues should be disregarded and relegated to the background by the electorate while voting. Religious and tribal consideration have triggered armed conflicts in several countries such as old Sudan, Central African Republic, Libya, Mozambique, Myanmar, Syria and in some parts of Middle East.
By Hon. Ibrahim Itodo SSA on Special Projects to Kogi State Governor