*Nigerian Vice-President (Prof.) Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has raised a strong objection to APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket

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Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has said eventual adoption of a Muslim-Muslim ticket by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the flagbearer of the ruling APC in the 2023 presidential election, has ignited a new wave of tension in the party in Nigeria.

A Presidency’s source disclosed the Vice-President, who is the most senior Christian official in the current administration, has warned that such an adoption would not augur well, both for the party and the country.

The source also noted that Prof. Osinbajo, Monday, July 11, 2022, expressed a serious objection to the adoption of a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

“Prof. Osinbajo is opposed to this thing announced on Sunday, and his objections are well-known both to the party and even the flagbearer himself,” stated the source.

Osinbajo, the source further said, had initially opposed a Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2014, even before what later turned out as his own eventual nomination as the VP.

At the time, he was reported to have pointedly explained to former Lagos Governor Bola Tinubu that a Muslim-Muslim ticket would simply alienate Christians.

An article published by ThisDay’s Olawale Olaleye, who is believed to be the publicist of Sen. Ibikunle Amosun, noted that the VP鈥檚 opposition to the Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2015 was responsible for Tinubu’s insisting that Osinbajo should not be put forward as VP.

However, the then APC flagbearer, now President Muhammadu Buhari, also shared that position and rejected overtures to name Asiwaju Tinubu as his running mate after emerging as the presidential candidate.

Buhari’s view then, was that a Muslim-Muslim ticket would clearly alienate the Christian community across the country at a time when religious sensibilities had become so widespread, the article stated.

Many believe that such sensibilities may have even deepened further, eight years after.

The informed source Monday said that the Vice-President, again, was recently quoted in a news piece by an online platform Quest Times June 16 2022, counselling the APC chieftains and the flagbearer to avoid an unbalanced ticket, arguing that such would simply be untenable and an unnecessary risk.

The VP reportedly explained in that report that “the logic, fairness and justice of a balanced ticket is unassailable.

“The argument that merit should be considered above a Muslim-Christian balance presents a false choice. It is not one or the other.

“You can get all the merit you want in a balanced ticket.”

Besides, Osinbajo is said to have recently re-affirmed the view, that 鈥渁nything short of a balanced ticket would create needless tension and further aggravate some of the country鈥檚 already sore fault-lines鈥�

As the political tensions brew, fresh talks of political realignments were already buzzing since after the announcement Sunday as the NNDP and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso are renewing the plan to build a coalition with the Vice-President, Prof. Osinbajo in what is seen as an opportunity to offer a credible and faith-balanced option in next year’s Presidential election, report said.

A close source said a meeting to explore such a possibility is now in the works.

Also, Christian leaders, including major denomination heads are now said to be considering reaching out to eminent Nigerians, a former President and even

top party chieftains across some of the leading political parties in the country on the need to offer the Nigerian electorate a “saner option which does not relegate any religion to a perpetual second class.”

Yet, another presidential source who pleaded for anonymity said: “APC may have shot itself in the foot with this kind of ticket, and the tensions going on in the party and the country since the announcement was made are a bad thing.”

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