Former Minister and National Chairman, South West Agenda for Asiwaju 2023, (SWAGA) Senator Adedayo Adeyeye has said that the All Progressives Congress(APC) did not arrive at Muslim-Muslim ticket based in sentiment stressing that the party is not “out for fun but it is “out for a serious business.”
The SWAGA Boss, who was reacting to the outburst of the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawan on the party’s choice also cautioned him against attacking the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the 2023 general elections, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu over the matter .
Lawal had described as “disastrous error,” the choice by the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the 2023 election, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, of Kashim Shettima as his running mate.
Recall that Tinubu had named former Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, as his running mate.
Adeyeye, a former Minister of State for Works, stated that it would be political suicide for Tinubu to have picked a Christian from the North as his running mate.
Adeyeye stated, “Let us establish one point, particularly in the North-East and the North-West, they constitute about 90 per cent of the population: I stand to be corrected.
Adeyeye said, “My message to him is that he should calm down. He is a statesman and an elder statesman should look for solutions to issues, not trying to stoke the fire; trying to quench it. And being a longstanding friend of Asiwaju, he should not be the one who is dropping him under the bus every time. You drop your friend under the bus; that is not how to be a good friend. Your own is to find a way, if the fire is burning, to see how you can quench it, not to stoke. That is my message to him.”
“I am not talking of the entire North because the Middle Belt is another issue. But you know we can’t pick a candidate from the North-Central because the National Chairman (of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu) is already from there.
“So, if you are now left with two regions, which are the North-East and the North-West, these two areas, the population of Muslims is almost 90 per cent, to the extent that they believe that politics is part of their religion, it will be suicidal for any politician to disregard that sentiment and feeling and then use sentiment to go and pick a Christian from that area. You are asking that the majority of the population should not vote for you.
“So, if you want to win the votes of those two critical geopolitical zones. You have to have somebody on that ticket from that region – either as Number 1 or Number 2 on that ticket; you have to have a Muslim from those two places if you want to win their votes.
“I think that is the reality that dictated the choice of Kashim Shettima. It is not out of sentiment; it is the fact that the first duty after being given the flag of the APC to fly is to win the election for the APC. And to win that election, reality dictates that you need to pick a Muslim from either the North-West or the North-East, but preferably the North-East because the North-West have had a fair share of the presidency.”
According to Adeyeye Babachir is Tinubu’s long standing friend, urged the ex-SGF to stop throwing the APC presidential candidate “under the bus.”
The SWAGA leader, the APC is not “out for fun but it is “out for a serious business.”
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