A group known as the All Progressives Congress (APC) national stakeholders have supported the emergence of a Christian from the northern region as the vice presidential candidate of the party for the 2023 general election.
The APC national stakeholders said this is necessary to ensure national inclusion, help to manage Nigeria’s differences and promote national unity.
The group at a press conference Tuesday in Abuja addressed by its spokesperson, Aliyu Audu called on APC to narrow her search for the vice presidential candidate of the party to a northern Christian, hence the party have them in abundance.
Audu said just as the party leaders galvanised to ensure the emergence of Bola Tinubu, a southern Muslim as the party’s presidential candidate, they should also synergise for the emergence of a Christian running mate from the north.
“Having successfully crossed the hurdle of producing a presidential candidate from the southern region, All Progressives Congress is now faced with yet another important hurdle it must cross before the deadline for the submission of nominations by political parties elapses
“The bone of contention this time around lies in which of the two dominant faith will produce the Vice Presidential candidate. There have been arguments that Vice Presidential candidate which is primed to come from the north must be of the Christian faith, while some others have argued that for the APC to stand the chance of winning the 2023 presidential election, the Vice must be a Christian, since the South has already produced a Muslim as the Presidential candidate.
“The APC national stakeholders are deeply concerned about the raging controversy which has heated the polity in the last few days. Why we are conscious of the fact that religion should not be a determining factor in the our leadership selection process, the peculiar circumstance the nation funds herself calls tor do reflection in the decisions we take, so long as they bother on our national lives.
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“Today, the country is deeply divided within our fault lines of ethnicity and religion and we cannot afford to jettison this sensibilities in critical decision making. This is why we think that the All Progressives Congress must be guided by the sense of these sensibilities in the selection of the Vice Presidential Candidate of the party. To do otherwnise would be to further fuel what divides us and give room for mischief makers to take advantage of our differences
“The northern APC has in its fold capable individuals from the Christian faith with proven track record that can deliver just like anyone from the other faith. Their capability to deliver on the ideals of party aside, they also have the capacity to win elections for the party. Suffice to add that no individual wins elections for any political party, it is the collective of all and we are sure the APC can achieve this,” he said.
Meanwhile, North-east APC youth stakeholders forum has called for a
special consideration of the zone for the position of the Vice President.
Haruna Sardauna, chairman of the forum at a press conference in Abuja said its demand was for anyone from North-east, irrespective of religious identity.
Sardauna said giving the slot to North-east will neutralise Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate and mobilise massive support from the region and other zones to ensure victory of Tinubu.
He said: “The North-East region had consistently given block votes to the APC and supported candidate from the other region, right from its inception. We therefore, appeal to our national, state critical and non-critical stakeholders, especially our father President Muhammadu Buhari, our candidate, Bola Tinubu and Abdullahi Adamu led APC National Working Committee to give to zone it to us.”
