An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Farouk Aliyu, has claimed that Christians are now more comfortable with the party’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket than they were before the 2023 general election.
Speaking during his appearance on Arise Television’s The Morning Show on Thursday, Aliyu argued that President Bola Tinubu’s administration has dispelled fears of religious marginalisation. Aliyu stated that while reacting to President Tinubu’s decision.
Defending the President’s decision to retain Vice President Kashim Shettima as his running mate for the 2027 presidential election, Aliyu said the APC had already earned the confidence 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 2023 generated widespread criticism amid concerns that Christians could be sidelined in government.
“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, Tinubu has governed without religious bias since assuming office.
“President Tinubu has been leading this country as a Nigerian, not anybody with any religious toga,” he added.
The APC chieftain said the party was satisfied with retaining Shettima as Tinubu’s running mate, noting that changing the ticket could have created unnecessary political challenges.
“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.
Aliyu expressed confidence that Nigerians would again support the Tinubu-Shettima ticket in the 2027 presidential election.
“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.
The APC’s decision to field Tinubu, a Muslim from the South-West, and Shettima, a Muslim from the North-East, as its presidential ticket ahead of the 2023 election sparked intense national debate.
Christian groups, including the Christian Association of Nigeria and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, opposed the decision, arguing that it ignored Nigeria’s religious diversity and long-standing tradition of balancing presidential tickets along religious lines.
However, the APC defended the choice as one based on competence and electoral strategy rather than religion. Tinubu and Shettima went on to win the 2023 presidential election and were sworn into office on May 29, 2023.
