The Adamawa State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has cautioned that critics of APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket could mislead people, including advocates of power shift to the South, to scuttle the election of the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, a Southerner.
Adamawa State Chairman of the party, Ibrahim Bilal, who sounded the warning in an interview with journalists at the weekend, spoke in reference to the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar who is another of the leading candidates and who hails from the North.
Bilal urged southerners in particular not to be misled into helping to keep the presidency in the North, as could happen if Tinubu fails the election next year on account of his pairing with a fellow Muslim, Kasheem Shettima.
He alleged that the real intention of the Muslim-Muslim ticket critics is to ensure the retention of power in the North under the guise of rejecting the party’s same-faith presidential ticket.
He told journalists on Saturday that it is more in the interest of the South to support Bola Tinubu’s presidency after eight years of northern domination of the Presidency.
“Southerners should not be misled to miss the shot at the presidency, caused by the row over Bola Tinubu’s decision to settle for Kashim Shettima, a northern Muslim as his running mate,” Bilala said.
Bilal added that the office of the vice president is a mere extension of the president’s office and so there is really little need to make it seem too mighty.
“The potency of the office of the Vice President largely depends on the disposition of the president, what many have jocularly referred to in some forum as ‘spare tyre’,” Bilal said.
Expressing disappointment that the attempt to sabotage Tinubu’s presidency is coming from influential politicians from the North East, particularly Adamawa State, Bilal however urged the party to placate the Christians within and outside the APC.