Labor Party vice-presidential candidate Datti Baba-Ahmed has said that a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket will not work in Nigeria, given all of Nigeria’s ethnic-religious complexities.
Baba-Ahmed shared his views on the viability of a two-Muslim-based same-faith ticket put forward by the ruling Radicals Congress (APC) for competitive presidential elections this Saturday.
“Why today Tinubu is not the vice president of Nigeria is the same reason he cannot be president,” Baba-Ahmed said during a live appearance on Channels Television’s The 2023 Verdict on Tuesday.
“What couldn’t happen in 2015 when the then candidate Buhari asked for any nomination whatsoever from Tinubu – because that configuration has passed. It can no longer work in Nigeria. (A) Muslim-Muslin ticket cannot work anymore.”
Arguing that “this structure can’t work anymore”, the Labor Party candidate emphasized his belief in Nigeria’s political structure, saying the country’s socio-political structure is no accident.
“The creator of the heavens and earth does not make mistakes. This is the Federal Republic of Nigeria as duly filed at the United Nations and registered too,” he said.
“It’s not the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for example, or the Vatican or Iran or Libya or Mauritania. It’s a federal republic, and God didn’t make a mistake by putting all of us, 250 (tribe).
“You find other countries, nearly 100 percent – one faith, one language, one group. Not the same in Nigeria – 250 (tribes) at least and two big competing religions. And we say that it’s not a mistake from our creator.”
According to him, of the 18 political parties presenting presidential candidates, 15 lag behind.
He added that of the remaining three, two were “misconfigured”, saying they were “no longer in line with the principle of winning Nigerian elections”.
