The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, is the grundnorm. The highest law in the land of which every provision is binding on all and every other law bows to. According to Section 1(1), “This Constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on the authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria”. Nigeria is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation. The whole idea of Section 14 is that our diversity in ethnicity and religion must be recognised and factored in while composing any government and no ethnic or religious group should be allowed to dominate others or be discriminated against. The government of the federation is composed of three arms of government, the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. The Constitution expects that our ethnic and religious diversity should be reflected in each arm of the government.
In the executive arm, the Presidency is primarily composed of the President and Vice-President. The Constitution states that before a Presidential candidate is deemed nominated, he must choose a Vice-President who will run with him on the same ticket. The Constitution is very clear that in determining who will be the President and the Vice-President, our ethnic and religious diversity must be considered in such a manner that no one religion dominates another. It is therefore illegal and unconstitutional to bring persons of the same ethnic or religious groups to compose the Presidency, The desecration of this provision also makes national integration impossible. Section 15(2) is very clear when it asserted that “Accordingly, national integration shall be actively encouraged, whilst discrimination on the grounds of place of origin, sex, religion, status, ethnic or linguistic association or ties shall be prohibited.” Specifically, Section 15(3)(d) has it that “For the purpose of promoting national integration, it shall be the duty of the State to promote or encourage the formation of associations that cut across ethnic, linguistic, religious and or other sectional barriers”.
Indeed, not only is it illegal to foist on the country a Muslim-Muslim ticket, it is also a duty placed on the President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of Nigeria, who is the implementor of the Constitution, in the interest of national integration, to discourage the composition or association of a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the Presidency of Nigeria. My goodness, look at what the Constitution concluded in Subsection 4 “The State shall foster a feeling of belonging and of involvement among the various people of the Federation, to the end that loyalty to the nation shall override sectional loyalties”. Is there any Nigerian in any state of doubt that a Muslim-Muslim ticket will not foster a feeling of belonging and of involvement of Christians in the Presidency towards achieving national integration of Nigeria? To this extent, it is illegal and unconstitutional and should be discarded and discouraged for the benefit of our beloved country, Nigeria. It is possible that this article may be out after the parties have made their choices of Vice-Presidential candidates, but if the APC made the mistake of choosing a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the presidency, the Vice-presidential candidate should immediately withdraw so that the right constitutional thing be done.
The Muslims in Nigeria must also rise up to the occasion and reject the imposition on Nigeria of a Muslim-Muslim ticket. True Muslims recognise that one of the four reasons for the revelation of Quran, according to Islamic theology, is the promulgation of the worship of God and the essentials of justice. There’s no true Muslim that will ever encourage anything that will lead to injustice. In a population of about 200m people with about 100m or more Christians, it is an absolute injustice to neglect the Christians in the composition of the Presidency. If true Muslims will not support a Christian-Christian ticket, and they have both the constitutional and moral rights not to do, then true Muslims should reject in its entirety, the possibility of a Muslim-Muslim ticket in the interest of equity, justice, fairness, peace and national integration of Nigeria.
Whenever the issue of Muslim-Muslim ticket comes up, the greatest reference that comes to mind was the June 12 election which was won by a Muslim-Muslim ticket. First of all, 1993 is almost 30 years ago. Almost a generation past. 2023 is a new Nigeria and what did not matter in 1993 may matter today. The level of division, criminality and insurgency in Nigeria today were not entrenched in 1993 as they are today. 1993 election was organised by a military junta who simply did not want to leave power. Before the election, President Ibrahim Babangida had cancelled the elections won by prominent Northerners in the person of Shehu Musa Yar Adua and Adamu Ciroma of the SDP and NRC respectively. In addition to cancelling their presidential primaries, Babangida banned all the politicians in Nigeria who had held higher political offices from the position of Governors to Presidents and Commissioners to Ministers and so on. He decreed that he wanted a new breed. That was why you did not see the elected politicians of the first and second republics play significant roles during the 1993 presidential elections. The field was thrown open to retired military personnel, very wealthy businessmen and accomplished retired civil servants of that era. So there was not many politicians of note from the North that Abiola could choose from. The only Christian politician that was seriously considered then was Pascal Bafyau, the NLC President of the time, who was not regarded as a political footsoldier with any grassroot in the North. After all consideration, Abiola picked Kingibe, a Muslim, as the Vice-presidential candidate because his choice was limited to what was available.
Today, the scenario is different. Sophisticated northern Christians have emerged from the North and the only reason not to pick a Christian Vice-President from the North to complement a Southern Muslim candidate is marginalization and discrimination against northern Christians which the Constitution absolutely abhors. How can you explain that 14 Northern Governors came together and fought that in the interest of equity and justice that the Presidential candidate of APC should come from the South and you turn back to say the Chairman of the Northern Governors forum, who led the team of Governors is not qualified because he is a Christian. That is shameful and disgraceful and stands against every tenet of Islam. Ahmadu Bello, Dangiwa Umar and the rest of noble Muslims in the North will never stand for such a falsehood. For the avoidance of doubt, when President Obasanjo selected majority of his armed forces Service Chiefs from the Christian North-Central during his regime and the far North cried marginalization, it was Dangiwa Umar that shouted down the far Northern Muslims from such outward show of discrimination of the Christian Northerners. He did the same thing during the appointment of the current President of the Court of Appeal, a Christian Northerner, when President Buhari started delaying her appointment. In his patriotic dictionary, all Northerners are the same, irrespective of their religion or ethnicity, and none should be discriminated against in the composition of any arm of government in Nigeria.
Ahmadu Bello’s private Secretary was a Christian. The idea that Muslims should support only a Muslim-Muslim ticket in a multi-religious nation is completely unislamic and should be rejected by all true Muslims of goodwill. Hear the reverred Ahmed Bello, the Premier of the Northern Region, in his 1959 Christmas message to the Northern Christians, “We are people of many different races, tribes and religions, who are knit together by common history, common interests and common ideals. Our diversity may be great but the things that unite us are stronger than the things that divide us. On an occasion like this, I always remind people about our firmly rooted policy on religious tolerance. Families of all creeds and colours can rely on these assurances. We have no intention of favouring one religion at the expense of another … Let me conclude this with a personal message. I extend my greetings to all our people who are Christians on this great feast day. Let us forget the difference in our religion and remember the common brotherhood before God, by dedicating ourselves afresh to the great tasks which lie before us. Leaders who truly believe in nation building not looters who come to power to be served and be worshipped.” Invariably, Ahmadu Bello referred to politicians who are discriminating against Northern Christians as people who are not interested in nation- building, looters and power grabbers, whose only interest is in power and money. Is there any doubt in the mind of any Muslim that whosoever is favouring any religion over another in the North, is going against the instruction of the great Ahmadu Bello? Please hear him again, “We have no intention of favouring one religion at the expense of another”. No true Muslim in Nigeria will accept a Muslim-Muslim ticket in the Nigeria of 2022. Ahmadu Bello will not. He supported a Southern Christian to be President in the sixties and a Muslim Northerner to be Prime Minister.
We must note that it is the South-West, not the North, that is foisting a Muslim-Muslim ticket on Nigeria and they should take responsibility for it. It’s the absolute right of a presidential candidate to nominate his running mate. Every Northern presidential candidate has resisted making a choice of a Muslim Vice-Presidential candidate from the South in the interest of national integration, equity and justice in Nigeria. Atiku resisted Tinubu and chose a Christian Vice-Presidential candidate. Atiku confessed recently that this was why Tinubu refused to support him wholeheartedly in 2007 presidential election. President Buhari contested election four times and resisted the temptation of choosing a Muslim Vice-Presidential candidate. He resisted Tinubu and picked a pentecostal pastor to be his Vice. Today, Tinubu is faced with same scenario. If he decides to listen to power grabbers in the north, not nation builders, to pick a Muslim to be his running mate, nobody should blame Islam or the Northerners for the sole decision of Tinubu. If Tinubu gives June 12 as his precedent, let us remind him that the man MKO Abiola won but still did not govern. He died in detention before his victory will be reclaimed. If Tinubu is a Muslim and believes that whatever happens is willed by God, I hope it will be safe for him to conclude that if the fate of June 12 should befall him in a Muslim-Muslim ticket, even if he wins, he may not be allowed by nature to govern. I hope he will allow us to believe that God willed it, if it happens that way. But Nigerians can save the country such scenario by collectively voting out Tinubu if he, illegally and immorally, discriminates and disrespects the Northern Christians in his choice of a Vice-Presidential candidate.