Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Ahmed, says he met with the Pentecostal Bishops Forum of Northern Nigeria on Thursday to discuss important national issues.
This comes as opposition to the ruling party’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket continues to cast reservations among Nigerian Christians, especially in the North.
Tinubu said in a Facebook post on Thursday:
Earlier today at a lively, productive and amiable meeting with a delegation representing the Pentecostal Bishops Forum of Northern Nigeria, we discussed important issues of national significance as well as my determination to deliver unity, harmony and lasting peace to Nigeria.
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Bishops Forum of the Northern States in Nigeria is led by Archbishop John Praise of Dominion Chapel International Church, Abuja.
Northern APC Christian leaders, led by former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, have continued to publicly express their disavowal of Mr Tinubu’s decision to choose a Muslim running mate from the North. Mr Lawal described the decision as a “demonic plot” to eliminate northern Christians from positions of power.
Lawal and his group have since vowed to work against Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election.
Also, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has asked Christians in Nigeria not to waste their votes by voting for the Muslim/Muslim presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 election.
Dogara stated this on Tuesday in Abuja at a summit tagged ‘Meet the Church’ organised by the Nigerian National Christians Coalition (NNCC).
The position of the former speaker was contained in a statement by his media aide, Turaki Hassan.
The APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, a Muslim from the South-west, was expected in some quarters to pick a Christian northerner as his running mate to balance his ticket.
However, the former Lagos State governor opted for Kashim Shettima, a Muslim and former Borno State governor, as his running mate.
Tinubu had justified the choice of Mr Shettima as a matter of competence.
Since the announcement of Mr Shettima as running mate, Mr Dogara and some other Christian Northern APC leaders, including a former secretary to the government of the federation, Babachir Lawal, and Elisha Abbo, a senator representing Adamawa North, have openly expressed opposition to the ticket.
