Chief Victor Oye, the national chairman of the All Progresives Grand Alliance (APGA), has said the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is anti-people.
The APGA chairman said the Muslim-Muslim ticket, whose purveyors have repeatedly reiterated was not targeted at Christianity, lacks equity, justice and fairness.
Oye argued that that the Muslim-Muslim ticket negated Sections 14 and 15 of the Federal Character principle, added that the interests of Nigerians who lived in a secular nation should have been placed above self.
“Our leaders must be sensitive to the sensibilities of the people,” said in an interview with Punch.
“For me, we have Sections 14 and 15 of the Constitution and they talk about Federal Character. The question is does the choice of a Muslim-Muslim ticket fit into that Federal Character? Now, there is what we call equity in law and you can’t come to equity without clean hands. He who wants equity must do equity. Is there equity in that Muslim-Muslim choice? That’s the question we need to answer.”
He further stated that the Muslim-Muslim ticket shouldn’t have been foisted on the citizenry, whom power belonged to, stressing that Nigerians were not given a choice in the current scenario.
He added, “Nigeria is a secular state. Our forefathers were aware of this even before they designed the Constitution. And in making these choices, we must be sensitive to the sensibilities of the people. It shouldn’t be lorded over the people, whom the power belongs to. If you do, you are bound to fail in the end. You must give people choice.
“You must take care of Muslims and you must take care of Christians at the same time. These are interests and politics is about interests. That’s permanent. If my interest is not served by your decision, I may be tempted to look elsewhere for satisfaction. So, that answers the whole question.
“There is no justice in that choice, there is no equity in that choice, there is no fairness in that choice. And what it means is that it will not lead to the desired result, because it’s already causing tension all over the place and the tension is avoidable tension.
“We have six zones in Nigeria – we have the South-West (the Yoruba), we have the South-East (the Igbo), we have the South-South (minority), we have the North-West (seven states – the Hausa/Fulani who are currently in power), we have the North-East (the Kanuris) and then we have the North-Central (the Nasarawa Egor, the Lafia and other minority tribes there and the Benue people). Now, you looked at all these people and you could not find a Christian as running mate.
“One, the South-West has produced the presidential candidate, a Muslim, isn’t it? You should have gone to the North and look for a Christian vice presidential candidate. You have Christians in Bauchi, in Gombe, Adamawa, even from where Shettima comes from, the Chibok people are there and you have Christians among them. You also have Christians in Plateau, Nasarawa, Kwara, Kogi, Benue, Kaduna States. Are these not Northern states? Even in Sokoto, there are Christians. Infact, there are Christians and Muslims everywhere. What are they talking about? They should have balanced the ticket and remove this unnecessary tension that the situation has caused.”
