••• Religion Will form Focus of Election
Former Secretary of the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has said that hurling at the Christian Association would not help All Progressives Congress in the forthcoming Presidential election in the country.
Lawal who spoke at the APC Northern Christian Leaders Summit Abuja 2022, on Friday, said that the forthcoming election would be about religion.
Lawal who accused the APC of starting a politics of religion stated further that the ruling APC would pay dearly for its choice of a Muslim/Muslim ticket in the 2023 elections.
Lawal who was the Chairman of the Summit, urged Christians to wield the weapons of the PVCs and prayers in the next election.
He said that Christians under the APC are facing alienation from political and even traditional offices in the North.
He said that in states like Kebbi, Niger and Kaduna States where the deputy Governors were Christians have been replaced with Muslims.
He added that as proof of its anti Christian agenda, the APC has completely eliminated Christians from its National Working Committee.
He described the Muslim/Muslim ticket of the APC as a deliberate agenda of exclusion against northern. Muslims saying that talk about competence is deceptive.
He said, “The PVC and prayers will be our weapon of choice and we will mercifully deploy them in 2023.
“We will not give up until we get Justice. I have heard friends and colleagues within and even outside the APC express some shock and even disbelieve over our reaction to the APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 2023 general elections.
“Our opposition has some historical basis. There were times in the past when Christians produced the Deputy Governors in Kebbi, Niger and Kaduna States. Now it is wholly Muslim-Muslim tickets. It is worth noting that all these are happening in APC-controlled states.
“They are threatening to do likewise in Gombe, Kogi and Adamawa States.
“It is also now a recurring practice in the north whereby any Christian traditional ruler that dies is replaced with a Muslim prince albeit from the ruling family even if the most qualified and preferred prince is a Christian.
“The recent case of Billiri Chiefdom in Gombe State is still fresh in our minds.
“Proof of its anti-Christian agenda is that our party itself has completely eliminated northern Christians from its National Working Committee (NWC) and National Executive Council (NEC).
“All our protestations as party members have been completely ignored by the party leadership. But as members of the APC, we have the right to continue to express our indignation at these happenings and will not give up until we secure the justice that is due us.
“The main purpose of this historical narrative is to let you know that for the APC, a Muslim-Muslim ticket has been a longterm political strategy and not a one-off decision. Thus, all this talk of competence as the reason for the choice of the Muslim VP is balderdash and diversionary. This is a calculated anti-Christian exclusion agenda that is being implemented.
“One might ask: why is the APC itself mute about our rejection of this Muslim Muslim ticket? And why has none of the other perpetrators of this crises reached out to Christians for a dialogue? Why are they instead hiring fake Bishops and take church groups to further embarrass the Church? Why are they embarking on a vicious media war against CAN and the Church instead of seeking reconciliation? Truly, things are not adding up.
“So why are, Northern Nigerian Christians in particular against the Muslim Muslim ticket? I will try to enumerate just a few more reasons in addition to the ones I have already enumerated above:
“We see this ticket as an assent to the current and continuing educational, economic and political marginalization of the Northern Nigerian Christians.”