An Abuja-based Islamic cleric, Mohammed Idris, has called on the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, to unite the country when elected.
He said Tinubu should not repeat the mistake of President Muhammadu Buhari if elected in 2023, saying the country is divided along religious and ethnic lines.
In a chat with newsmen in Abuja on Monday while reacting to the APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket, he said Tinubu’s administration should reflect national unity through his appointments and body language.
He asked the candidate of the APC to do everything within his power to ensure he calm perceived frayed nerves across the country so that there would be harmonious co-existence.
He added that it was appalling that citizens have been living a depressed life occasioned by hardship as if they were living in the decades past and have lost hope.
“Nigerians want to see a united country in 2023 where a Yorubaman would be president, Hausa/Fulani/Kanuri as his vice and an Igbo man as the Senate president and so on. We are praying for a Nigeria where an Ijaw or an Efik person would be competent enough to be the national security adviser. Tinubu should do everything within him to avoid lopsided appointments to give every Nigerian a sense of belonging,” he said.
He urged the youths to shun leaders who wield religious sentiments and always ready to drag them into unnecessary conflicts but rather should look for role models that can make them realise they have a common destiny with the Nigerian nation.
“The pride of Nigeria is in its diversity and the new Nigeria must be one in which leaders employ the things that bind us together. There can be no greatness for Nigeria if every citizen cannot feel at home whether they are in Kano, Ibadan, Calabar or Owerri. The onus to ensure we have a country where every single Nigerian can proudly call home lies in the hands of our youth,’’ he said.