A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Farouk Aliyu, has said many Nigerian Christians are now more comfortable with the party’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket than they were before the 2023 general election, insisting that President Bola Tinubu’s administration has dispelled fears of religious marginalisation.
Aliyu made the remarks on Thursday during an interview on Arise Television, monitored by Politics Nigeria, while reacting to President Tinubu’s decision to retain Vice President Kashim Shettima as his running mate for the 2027 presidential election.
Defending the decision, Aliyu said the APC chose to retain the Tinubu-Shettima ticket because it had already earned the trust and support of Nigerians in the last election.
“Our leader, the president, decided in his wisdom not to change the winning ticket. And the Christians in this country, I am sure, are now comfortable, much, much more comfortable than when we came up with the Muslim-Muslim ticket,” he said.
He recalled that the APC’s decision to field two Muslim candidates in the 2023 election sparked widespread criticism, with concerns that Christians could be marginalised if the party won power.
“That was when there was a lot of hue and cry that the Christians were going to be marginalised. Well, now it’s history that nobody is being marginalised along religious lines,” Aliyu said.
According to him, President Tinubu has governed the country without religious bias since taking office.
“President Tinubu has been leading this country as a Nigerian, not anybody with any religious toga,” he added.
Aliyu also said the party was satisfied with the decision to retain Shettima, noting that changing the ticket could have created avoidable political complications for the APC.
“Now it is our own decision, the party, of course, through the leader, to retain Kashim Shettima, and we are very happy that the ticket has not been tinkered with, so that we also, as a party, don’t have to start thinking what next to do,” he said.
Expressing confidence ahead of the 2027 presidential election, Aliyu said the APC believes Nigerians will once again support the Tinubu-Shettima ticket.
“We’ve tried it when it was hectic, when it was about impossible, and Nigerians believed in us, gave us the chance, and we are doing it again. And we hope Nigerians will believe in us and give us a chance again with the Muslim-Muslim ticket,” he said.
