Muslim Rights Concern lashes out at Dogara for asking northern Christians to boycott APC

MUSLIM Rights Concern (Muric) has lashed out at former House of Representatives speaker Hon Yakubu Dogara for calling on Christians not to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) because it is fielding a same faith presidential ticket.

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

About a month later, however, after weeks of prevarication, Asiwaju Tinubu ended up selecting a fellow Muslim in the form of the former Borno State governor Senator Kashim Shettima as his running mate. His choice has polarised the country as the Christian faithful feel highly marginalised and in the northwest geo-political zone, some of the governors there had hoped to be picked.

Last week, Hon Dogara, a prominent northern Christian from Bauchi State, had condemned the idea of a Muslim-Muslim ticket  and warned Christians not to waste their votes on the APC in next year’s elections. He explained that the adoption of the same faith ticket by the ruling APC is antithetical to the country’s quest for nation-building.

In a bitter response, however, Barrister Idris Gambo, the chairman of Muric's Bauchi State chapter, called on Dogara to follow the spirit of his name. He reminded him that Dogara ga Allah, means leave everything to God.

Barrister Gambo said: “Although I understand the need to hide under the guise of nation building by Rt Hon. Yakubu Dogara, in driving home the message of his disappointment and his being snubbed by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in the choice of his running mate, but what I cannot still comprehend was the choice of a religious platform to send such a political message. I would like to call on Hon Dogara to follow the spirit of his name and Dogara ga Allah (i.e. leave everything to God).

"It is clear that he is doing more harm than good to his hard-earned political image and the reputation he cultivated in the last 16 years, especially in Bauchi State where despite the religious differences, he’s highly revered as one of the most respected leaders of the APC. To us in Muric, his political party is never an issue but the future has a way of rewriting the result of the past.”