The Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN), has once again warned the political parties to bury the thought of a Christian/Christian or Muslim/Muslim presidential ticket in 2023, saying it is a threat to Nigeria’s fragile peace and unity.
The association disclosed this in a statement issued by the National Secretary of CAN, Joseph Daramola, yesterday.
Recall that all the political parties have chosen their flagbearers and are expected to nominate their running mates before June 17.
According to the statement: “We congratulate the presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi respectively, including other parties that are participating in the forthcoming presidential election.
“CAN urges that a balance of both religious practitioners be considered in the choice of running mates of the presidential candidates. We do not subscribe to Christian/Christian ticket or Muslim/Muslim ticket. Politicians can talk politics, but we have stated our view long before now; any party that tries the same religion ticket will fail.
“This is not 1993; those who are planning a Muslim/Muslim ticket should also find out what was the outcome of the MKO Abiola and Kingibe ticket in 1993.
“If they try Muslim/Muslim ticket this time around, the outcome will be worse because our fault lines are very visible. It is obvious that the Nigeria of today is different from that of 1993.
“Our politicians should stop flouting the Constitution, by respecting the North and South dichotomy and religious factors. To those arguing that people do not care about the religions of their leaders once they are competent and credible, we dare APC to pick its presidential running mate from the South and PDP to pick its own from the North and see what follows”, the association stated.
