By Princess Simon (Bureau Chief North Central, in Minna)
All Progressive Congress (APC) Chieftain in Niger state, Jonathan Vatsa has criticized President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for second term retaining his Vice, Kashim Shettima ahead of next year's general elections, saying the trend indicates clearly that the President is undermining Nigerian Christian community.
Vatsa bared his mind over the President's choice to retain Shettima for his re-election few days after the President announced Vice President Shettima as his running mate for the 2027 polls, insisting that except he (Tinubu) is up to something different from allowing Nigerian voters to count, Muslim-Muslim ticket will not earn him victory.
Vatsa, the pioneer APC Publicity Secretary in Niger state categorically stated that he is totally against a repeat of the 2023 Muslim-Muslim ticket by the President necause it is a direct insult on Nigeria's Christian community.
"I think the step that the President have taken is a grevious mistake the APC have made to have allowed this, it is highly insensitive", Vatsa said, pointing out that whoever advised the President on the subject matter does not mean well for him and the party.
In a statement made available to journalists in Minna, the former Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism argued that whoever that advised President Tinubu and the APC to repeat same Muslim-Muslim ticket did not do well.
The unfolding political scenarios currently playing out today clearly shows that both the President and the party have shot themselves on the leg. "The situation that earned President Tinubu victory in 2023 is different from what is on ground right now".
"With current political scenarios playing out and socio-economic situation on ground, consistent echoes of Christian genocide across the world about Nigeria, nobody expect that the President will repeat Muslim-Muslim ticket arrangement".
"Nobody can convince Christians to vote for the APC in 2027 when they have alternative choice to vote for other political parties that have Christians as Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates respectively. Muslim-Muslim ticket will be a difficult sell".
"What this thing meant is that the President and the APC have made the campaign very difficult for Christian members of the party like us ahead of the coming elections. What do you expect us to tell the Christian community, to vote for another Muslim-Muslim ticket? Vatsa queried.
The former state Publicity Secretary of APC who only last week pleaded with his state Governor, Hon. Umar Bago to consider a Christian as his running mate in 2027, a call that he turned down, said the situation with Christians in Nigeria can be likened to the biblical saying of a stone the builders rejected and the building cannot stand without the stone because they surely needed the stone.
Insisting that a repeat of Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2027 as unacceptable, Vatsa said, "President Tinubu has thrown a great challenge to Christians in Nigeria this choice he has made. Except he has a different plan on how to win the next election apart from the balloting, this choice will have grevious consequences".
Vatsa further hinted that, "Nigerian Christian community are already feeling unsecured at the moment and they would have been comfortable with a Christian Vice president in 2027. As things stand now, they will be more comfortable where they are protected or where their safety and freedom of worship is guaranteed".
With the echoes of Christian genocide re-vibrating every now and then, Vatsa reminded President Tinubu and the APC that international community are now interested in unfolding political developments in Nigeria and what will happen next year, especially the fate of Christians most of whom can no longer sleep with their two eyes closed in especially north-central states.
Vatsa said he has nothing against the Vice President but simply speaking the truth about what fairness, justice and equity meant, insisting that, "Something needed to be done about this choice. I have nothing against the Vice president nor the Muslims in Nigeria but I am speaking for equity, justice and fairness in Nigeria’s political arrangements". NNL.
