Public affairs analyst and publisher of Ireland-based journal, The Street Journal Magazine, Mogaji Bowale Oluwole Arisekola has said a Muslim-Muslim ticket does not matter if Presidential standard-bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, settles for such choice in the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
Arisekola who is known for his objective stand on topical national issues added that even if Tinubu was paired with the Roman Catholic Pope as running mate, those who will still not vote for him will not vote.
Mogaji made these remarks with some selected political correspondents at the Transcorp Hilton hotel, Abuja on Saturday before heading for his country home in Ibadan, Oyo State.
He said,
“I must commend Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for emerging victorious in the hotly contested APC Presidential primary, his towering and intimidating political feat was enough quality that would definitely send jitters into the spine of the opposition as 2023 election draws near.
“Meanwhile, I have noticed that since Tinubu’s emergence as APC presidential torchbearer, both social and traditional media are now awash with all sort of speculations and analysis on the faith of who should be his running mate. This is expected though, but whether Tinubu is truly planning to break with tradition by picking a fellow Muslim as his running mate in order to receive support in the predominantly Muslim North or choosing his Vice Presidential running mate from the predominantly Christian South shouldn’t be an issue. Whichever choice he settles for, he will still win the general election in 2023.
“With due respect to the Catholics and Christians generally, one thing I know is that even if the Roman Catholic Pope was brought forward as Vice Presidential candidate to run with Tinubu, those who will still not vote for him will not vote. His records of winning streak cannot be broken, he will not only win in 2023, but he will make a landslide victory irrespective of the faith of his running mate.
“What Nigerias need is a President and Vice President that both poses requisite capacity, integrity, sagacity, empathy, positive attitude, passion, administrative acumen, zeal for selfless service, etc, and impressively these qualities are inherent in Tinubu.”
Bringing historic perspective to the fray, Arisekola said,
“You will recall that this was the same situation faced by southern Muslim politician MKO Abiola in 1993 when he had to pick a northern Muslim running mate, Babagana Kingibe. However, the two of them eventually won the election. In present day Nigeria, the current Governor of Kaduna State and his deputy are both Muslims. Even in the House of Representatives, Gbajabiamila, who is a Muslim, picked Idris Wase, a fellow Muslim, as the deputy speaker and they as well emerged victoriously.”
He continued, “Permit me to also add that I strongly disagree with those who are saying Nigerians are still conscious of ethnoreligious factors in politics, many of them with such erroneous assertions are playing the cards of opposition. Nobody should distract Asiwaju, they should allow him to remain focused, resolute and very calculative in the choice of who will be his Vice Presidential running mate and I am definitely confident that his choice will be flawless.”
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