Babachir Lawal calls Tinubu and APC arrogant for not reaching out to northern Christians

FORMER secretary to the federal government Babachir Lawal has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of failing to reach out to northern Christians who feel alienated by his same faith electoral ticket.

In June, Asiwaju Tinubu emerged as the APC presidential candidate after coasting home in a landslide victory at the party's convention in Abuja. Following his victory, however, he laboured to select a running mate after publicly declaring that he will pick a Christian from the northeast geo-political zone as his deputy.

Eventually, after weeks of prevarication, Asiwaju Tinubu ended up selecting a fellow Muslim in the form of former Borno State governor, Senator Kashim Shettima as his running mate. His choice has polarised the country as the Christian faithful feel highly marginalised, especially in the northeast and north central geo-political zones that have large Christian populations.

Since Asiwaju Tinubu announced the Muslim-Muslim ticket, the APC Northern Christian Forum has been formed by prominent Christians like Mr Lawal. They are insisting that Christian politicians in Northern Nigeria would remain steadfast in their stand for justice, equity and fair play, as any nation or political dispensation built on injustice would crumble because justice and equity settle all other disputes.

According to Mr Lawal, neither Asiwaju Tinubu nor Senator Shettima or the APC sees anything wrong in their choice of a same-faith ticket for the presidency in the forthcoming election. He added that they have not done anything to make peace or assuage the feelings of northern Christian politicians.

Mr Lawal said: “We have so far not taken the road to reconciliation because, in the first instance, neither the APC as a party nor its presidential candidate has bothered to seek us out for reconciliation even though early on, our doors were left open for such. There are of course some Christian turncoats and Judases who, driven either by moral turpitude, poverty or greed, have hired themselves out as agents and spoilers of this noble Christian cause.

“To this group, I wish to recommend the study of the biographies of Judas Iscariot and Ahithophel in the bible. Be careful to note how their lives ended.

“It seems that Tinubu/Shettima’s preferred approach is to attempt to counter our position through insults and sponsored fake Christian organisations to create the impression that there is a division within the Christendom on this matter. This approach has also portrayed the duo as arrogant and pitiable people whilst also exposing them to the public as people with unimaginable deficiencies of noble character."

Already the Pentecostal Fellowship (PFN) of Nigeria has said that the Pentecostal Bishop’s Forum of Northern Nigeria, which met with Asiwaju Tinubu, in Abuja on Friday does not exist within the association. PFN deputy national secretary Bishop David Bakare, disowned the group, saying that there was nothing like Southern or Northern Pentecostal Bishops in the PFN.