Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has voiced confidence that Nigeria will one day elect a president and vice-president on a Christian-Christian ticket, arguing that the Constitution does not demand religious balancing in political appointments or electoral tickets.
He made the remarks on Tuesday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he responded to criticism from the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, vice-presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, over political representation.
Sule brushed aside the criticism as a normal part of opposition politics. “I think it is normal for Senator Kwankwaso, whom I respect a lot, to say that because he’s opposition. He cannot say anything good. It is expected of him to say that,” he said.
The governor said the 1999 Constitution is concerned with inclusiveness and federal character rather than religion, noting that Sections 14(3) and 15 deal with equitable representation and ethnicity but say nothing about religious balancing. “There is no place where it talks about religion. Section 14 didn’t talk about religion. Section 15 did not talk about religion,” he said.
He pointed to the 2023 victory of President Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima, as well as the 1993 ticket of the late MKO Abiola and Babagana Kingibe, as examples of winning Muslim-Muslim tickets. “You can see both elections have been clear that the Muslim-Muslim ticket has won. I pray that one day Nigeria will have a Christian-Christian ticket, and it will win; that’s what I pray to see,” Sule said.
He stressed that keeping Emmanuel Akabe, a Christian, as his deputy governor was a matter of competence, not religion. “I have always had a Christian as a deputy, Emmanuel Akabe. We thought it was important because Emmanuel Akabe is competent and our state is different from Nigeria,” he said.
Sule added that political realities vary from state to state, citing Enugu and Bayelsa as places already running Christian-Christian leadership without controversy.
Source: Vanguard.
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