Deputy speaker: Critics of Muslim-Muslim ticket want to cause confusion, gain power

Idris Wase, deputy speaker of the house of representatives, says opponents of the Muslim-Muslim ticket fielded by the All Progressives Congress (APC) are seeking to cause confusion in society.

Wase spoke on Thursday when he received some members of the Asiwaju Pact With Citizens Campaign at the national assembly.

Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of APC, who is a Muslim from the south-west, had on July 10 announced Kashim Shettima, a Muslim from the north-east, as his running mate.

The Muslim-Muslim ticket has sparked a flurry of criticism from some Nigerians who described it as an “injustice” to the Christian fold.

Speaking on the development, Wase said the opposition to the Muslim-Muslim ticket is based on emotion and sentiment.

“I attended to a journalist some few days ago when I went to congratulate alongside my colleagues the vice-president (Kashim Shettima) Insha Allah 2023. The journalists asked me whether we have issues regarding the Muslim-Muslim ticket and my answer to him was that we have a Muslim-Muslim here in the house of representatives as speaker and deputy speaker,” he said.

“I don’t know how many people we have converted if it is about religion. It is about delivering the dividends of democracy to the people. We have had a Christian-Christian senate president and deputy senate president for eight good years in the national assembly.

“So, some of these emotions and sentiments being expressed are done by those who want to gain cheap access to power and other things and cause confusion in society. What we should be after is competency. Who can offer and give us the best? There is no doubt the choice of Asiwaju. First I want to say, power comes from God. He (Tinubu) has demonstrated his capacity. He has given out his best.”

The deputy speaker said Tinubu has a history and trajectory of helping people achieve success, hence will make a good president.

“He has been in the political terrain for years. He has developed people. There is no segment of the society that you go to that you won’t have one person or the other that he has helped or touched. And I believed that he is the candidate to beat. I have not seen any candidate in any political party that can match his achievements. I have not seen it. To be honest, I have been honest, none,” he said.

“There is an array of ministers and chief executives who were the students of his own school of thought and political alignments. There is no politician in this country that can match his own contribution and what he has done. He is the first to demonstrate and we have a lot to showcase. When the time comes we will speak out.

During the meeting, Wase was announced as the chairman of the national advisory council of the Asiwaju Pact With Citizens Campaign by Dominic Alancha, chairman of the group.