From Victor Osula, Abuja
The Bishops gaining entrance into the venue of the unveiling of Senator Kashim Shettima as ACP VP
The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has described as a charade akin to Nollywood affair the presence of some clerics at the unveiling of Kashim Shettima as the Vice Presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In his reaction the event held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja on Wednesday, the Vice President of CAN in the 19 Northern States in the country and Abuja and its chairman in Kaduna State, Rev. Joseph John Hayab, said it was an act of desperation on the part of the ‘Bishops and the party.
According to Hayab the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was free to “hire mechanics and other artisans and sew clerical garments for them.”
He said, “The people we saw at the unveiling of Shettima paraded as Bishops are people who did not have enough time to learn how to wear Bishop garments. Take a closer look at their photo and you will see another Nollywood movie.
“CAN wonders why the desperation. First, a story was out claiming to have come from the Chairman of CAN Borno state only to be refuted. Secondly, there was another lie that BAT (Bola Ahmed Tinubu) and his running mate were on their way to meet CAN President one night. A meeting that was not true and was on a night that the CAN President was in Alabama USA attending the Baptist World Alliance Conference of which he is the Vice President.
“Another desperation story was that they met Papa Adeboye which the RCCG later refuted. If Christians are not important why the desperation?
“BAT is free to hire mechanics and other artisans and sew clerical garments for them. An effort that will only add to their many ropes when the political exercise is over but will not change the need for fairness and justice that CAN is calling for.
“CAN appreciate that we are in a democracy, no need to do funny and dubious things just to prove a point because it will in the end bounce back. BAT team should simply do what is right and stop the drama.”
Attempts by journalists to ascertain the identity of the pastors and Bishops failed as many of them avoided the pressmen and when some were cornered, they refused to speak. This has learnt credence to the desperation of the party to woo the head of the Christian faith after realising the mistake made with the Muslim-Muslim ticket. More so when they did not invite a corresponding number of clerics of the Muslim faith.
Speaking on it at a Channels TV programme on Wednesday, Politics Today, Governor Abdulahi Sule denied that the Christian clerics were hired. ” It is not true that they were hired, they were Bishops of churches.”, he told the anchorman, Seun Okinbaloye. ” What we should be concerned with is good governance and leadership to deliver democracy to our people, not this storm over religion.” He said the members of the party who are protesting the Muslim-Muslim ticket are playing politics.
Earlier on Wednesday, hundreds of youths gathered at the National Secretariat of the party in Abuja to register their displeasure on the Muslim-Muslim ticket.
Carrying banners that read ‘A cry for justice’, ‘Drop Shettima and give slot to our Christian brothers’, ‘Discrimination and mutual suspicion in our country,” the group said their protest was a demand for justice and fairness.
Convener of Forum, Abdullahi Bilal Mohamadu in a letter addressed to the National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu demanded that the party step into the matter and correct it to reassure their Christian brothers a sense of belonging both in the country and in the country.
He said: “The implication of non-action in this regard can only be imagined, so much so that the majority of the eligible voters in Northern Nigeria have elected to boycott the APC in protest of the disrespect and disregard to our Northern Christian brothers , whose population and relevance in the scheme of things in the region cannot be overemphasized.
“If our party is desirous of recording electoral success in the 2023 presidential elections, it must retrace its steps by selecting a Christian from the Middle Belt as its vice presidential candidate. The party must not be perceived as promoting a religious agenda by fielding a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“We consequently say no to a Muslim-Muslim ticket by the APC. We call on President Muhammadu Buhari to kindly intervene to save the party from an electoral crisis. We urge Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to emulate the example of President Muhammadu Buhari in the choice of his running mate in the 2015 and 2019 presidential elections.
“Our Christian brothers and sisters deserve a place in the scheme of things, and our party must not be seen as a religiously insensitive party. The time to act is now.”
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