THE Senator representing Adamawa North, Ishaku Abbo, has described the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, as irresponsible for choosing Kashim Shettima, a Muslim, as his running mate.
Abbo who addressed journalists in Abuja on Monday, also resigned from Tinubu’s campaign group.
He noted that Shettima’s selection as APC vice-presidential candidate poses a major threat to national unity.
According to him, a support group in Abuja had earlier told Tinubu not to pick a Muslim as his running mate for the 2023 presidential election but he later went ahead to do so.
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“For Tinubu now to be given the ticket and turn around to do what he couldn’t achieve in 2015 despite opposition from Catholics and other Christian leaders is extremely irresponsible,” he said.
“Buhari fought a civil war and understands the consequences of a divided nation. When Tinubu wanted to be VP in 2015, Buhari said no because he understood the importance of unity.
“We sat down in Abuja and strategised and we concluded that he should not take a Muslim as running mate. He (Tinubu) threw away the report.
“My conscience will not allow me to campaign for Tinubu. I am a member of CAN; I cannot deny CAN. I remain in APC. But I will take the survival of my country first over political considerations.”
Abbo added, “We cannot work for such a man. I will oppose Christian-Christian ticket because I am interested in the stability of this country. A Christian-Christian ticket will be insensitive to Muslims of this country.
“The country is evenly divided among Muslims and Christians. So any government that is Muslim-Muslim will be illegitimate and will never gain the respect of Christians.”
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.