The Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress, according to Rev. Yunusa Nmadu Jr., General Secretary of the Evangelical Church Winning All, is a scheme for Bola Tinubu, the party's nominee, to lose the 2023 presidential election.
According to the ECWA scribe, those who prepared the same religion presidential ticket merely planted a land mine for the former governor of Lagos State to trip over, saying they never had good intentions for him.
The united Tinubu-Shettima APC presidential ticket had caused controversy, with a number of groups opposing it.
Speaking to journalists in Kaduna on Tuesday, Nmadu—who is also the CEO of Christian Solidarity Worldwide—noted that the APC's same-faith ticket has increased mistrust among Nigerians both in the state of Kaduna and at the federal level.
The justifications given for the presidential ticket consisting of exclusively members of one religion, he said, were not only puzzling but also offensive to people of other faiths.
He continued, "I don't know how anybody in their political calculus could ever think they will win an election in Nigeria without the Christians or win an election in Nigeria without the Muslims." He claimed that the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the party is "dead on arrival."
According to him, those who are flying the Muslim-Muslim ticket in Kaduna State or at the federal level have already failed the test.
"Neither Muslims nor Christians are interested in this, thus it is not in their best interests. Even if it is a Christian-Christian ticket with both faiths about equal, I will never vote for a candidate of the same faith.
Naturally, there are some areas where there is nothing you can do about it, particularly in a state that has a large Muslim population; in those states, you cannot go and request a Muslim-Christian ticket. This makes sense.
Additionally, in some states with a large Christian population, you cannot request a ticket for a Christian or Muslim.
"However, I'm not sure how anyone can ever believe they can win an election in Nigeria without the participation of Christians, Muslims, or people of other faiths in their political calculations.
This is our nation. Because of our extreme division, which has widened over the past seven years, any new administration should place more of a focus on bringing the populace together and fostering togetherness.
"Ticket by the APC is dead before arriving in the same religion. Our nation's cohesiveness is not served by it, and I believe people who are pressuring the candidate to do this do not even have his best interests at heart.
"I believe again, and this is just my view, that they are urging him to do it because they want him to lose the election and they are doing it so that he can lose and lose very well."
When asked about the justifications offered for voting for candidates of the same faith, the ECWA's scribe responded, "Muslim-Muslim ticket is divisive; it does not encourage cohesion; it does not bring the country together. What we need now more than ever before is national unity, and we need whoever will bring us together, respecting everyone.
"Once more, some of the justifications they offered for the same religious ticket are so banal and so stupid. For instance, they claimed that rather than worrying about religion, we should be worried about those who are coming to fix the country.
Are we suggesting that there is just one faith that has the ability to fix the country? Furthermore, they claim that skill is a factor. I consider that to be extremely offensive.
According to what they are stating, "We searched in accordance with custom from other faiths, but we were unable to discover anyone who is competent. That defence fails to hold up under scrutiny.