Muslim- Muslim Ticket: Igbo Group Vows To Abandon APC....Ex Minister Kicks

The furore generated over speculations that the All Progressive Congress, APC is rooting for a muslim/muslim ticekt has attracted the ire APC South East Frontier.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Enugu, the group’s president, Joseph Okoroji, said they will compel Igbo youths to abandon the party if it fails to allocate the Vice Presidential ticket  or national chairmanship slot to the region.

He said the party leaders ought to carry the region along if it intends to enhance its electoral chances in the South East and dispel insinuations that the APC is a Muslim party that has no place for Christians.

Joseph said the youths in the region embraced the APC because it offers an alternative to them than the PDP and its manifesto offers a roadmap to a new Nigeria  

He further stated that the Muslim-Muslim ticket will portray the party as anti Christian and anti Igbo if it goes ahead to endorse a Buahri/Tinubu ticket with the South- South producing the national Chairman. 

Joseph postulated that the APC should consider itself buried in the South East if it fails to give igbos either the vice presidential ticket or national chairmanship position.   

Meanwhile,a former Minister of Aviation and member of the party, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode,  in his reaction to the alleged Buhari-Tinubu ticket which translates to Muslim-Muslim ticket, said: "If we do that, we will not only offend the Christian community but we will also loose the election woefully."

The outspoken former minister, who said he had noted it in several political meetings of the party, reiterated that such move would amount to "the biggest mistake that my party, the APC, can make is to field a Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 2015 Presidential election."

He noted that Nigeria had gone past the 1993 era when the MKO Abiola and Alhaji Babagana Kingibe ticket received massive support from Nigerians, irrespective of religious divide.

"Whether we like it or not, we must accept the fact that religion plays a major role in our politics today. Our party must have both a Christian and a Muslim on the ticket if we want to be taken seriously in the presidential election.

"I implore those who think otherwise to sit down and think this through properly. We must not present a Christian-Christian ticket as this would be insensitive to the feelings of Muslims and we must not present a Muslim-Muslim ticket as this would be insensitive to the feelings of Christians.

"I for one would never support a ticket that presents two members of the same faith no matter what the consequences would be," he warned.

He maintained that Nigeria belongs to both Muslims and Christians.

“We are all one and we must ensure that we do not hurt the feelings or the sensitivities of one another either advertently or inadvertently. As they say 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions.'

He therefore advised that the APC must be mindful of its actions, deeds and words, "no matter how well-intentioned they may be, and let us ensure that we do not confirm the terrible stereotyping that those who are against us are trying to label us with."

According to him, the APC is the only hope for Nigeria and should not mess it up by making the wrong choices, adding that "a word is enough for the wise."