It is unfortunate that Nigeria's APC could not take a leaf from the book of the Democratic Party in the US and do what is right even if it will cost them electorally

Ayo Akinfe 

[1] As we all reel from the effects of yesterday's charade of fake bishops in Abuja, it is really time to look ourselves in the mirror and ask why we are so off the mark in all we do

[2] Why can't Nigeria's main political parties stick to an unwritten gentleman's agreement they have between them which states - the presidency will rotate between the north and the south, the president and vice president will be Muslim/Christian or Christian Muslim and the presidential ticket will be northerner/southerner or southerner/northerner

[3] With regards to the PDP, it is unfortunate that Atiku Abubakar could even get 10% of the vote, as his treachery is capable of tearing Nigeria to shreds. Shame on all those delegates who voted for him for filthy lucre. How can you be so selfish with your personal ambition that you do not care if it tears your nation apart 

[4] With regards to the APC, it is pathetic that Bola Tinubu could not stick to what is right, proper and honourable by picking a northern Christian as his running mate. He clearly did not anticipate this level of condemnation and the outrage that followed his move, and is obviously rattled, hence the show of shame in Abuja yesterday 

[5] I ask myself why Nigeria's two main parties are not like the US Democratic Party who kept fielding black candidates for decades because they believed in it. Many of the the Democratic Party candidates lost these elections but that did not deter the party as it continued fielding them as it believed in the principle of integration 

[6] In this picture, is Douglas Wilder (born January 17, 1931), an American lawyer and politician who served as the 66th governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1994. He was the first African American to serve as governor of a US state. Mr Wilder is actually the grandson of slaves, with his paternal grandparents having been enslaved in Goochland County. Before him many black candidates had run for office and failed simply because they were black. I do not think white Democrats get enough credit for their perseverance 

[7] Likewise, Hiram Revels, the first ever black senator elected to Congress to represent Mississippi in 1870, had a very torrid history. Revels was a second cousin to Lewis Sheridan Leary, one of the men who were killed taking part in John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859

[8] I want Nigerians to ask themselves why the APC and PDP cannot act in a similar honourable fashion and do the right thing. Maybe if they did, it would mark a turning point in out history. For 2023, after eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari, their presidential candidates should be a southerner with a northern running mate of a different faith 

[9] Were Nigeria a just and fair country, the PDP would have a team that looked something like Peter Obi/Aminu Tambuwal and the APC a team that looked like Bola Tinubu/Simon Lalong

[10] Unfortunately, fair play has simply refused to take root in Nigeria. It is thus no surprise that rather than correct his blunder, Bola Tinubu has resorted to fraud by dressing up political thugs as clergymen to show the church supports his candidacy. What is most unfortunate is that he will likely get away with it!