The All Progressives Congress presidential campaign council spokesperson, Festus Keyamo, claimed that Nigerians are ‘hungry’ and unconcerned with the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket.
Keyamo spoke on Sunday during a Channels Television interview.
The APC’s selection of Muslim politician Kashim Shettima as a running mate, made by the party’s flagbearer and fellow Muslim Bola Tinubu, has drawn a range of responses over the previous few months.
Tinubu, a Muslim and his choice of a Muslim running mate, Kashim Shettima, has been criticised by many Nigerians, notably the Christian Association of Nigeria, and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria.
Speaking about the opposition to the ticket, the minister stated that CAN and PFN are not APC members and shouldn’t publicly criticize the party.
When asked about the APC’s campaign issues for the 2023 elections, Keyamo responded that the party would emphasize Tinubu’s accomplishments while serving as governor of Lagos.
According to the minister, the party will explain to Nigerians how Tinubu will better the nation based on his track record managing Lagos.
He said, “These are the kind of questions we want to see, the issues will want to remain on not Muslim-Muslim ticket. We have issues upon issues we want to talk about.
“Nigerians are hungry, they want to see how that hunger will be addressed, not how their Christian or Muslim faiths will be addressed.
“They want to see our policies on agriculture and what Asiwaju has done before as governor of Lagos state, how he improved Lagos and how he will bring that kind of dexterity to Nigeria as a whole.
“That is what they want to see. How do we want to run the country? What do we want to tell Nigerians?
“They are two crucial things we want to tell Nigerians. One, the person of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and what he has done before in the territory that is set to be the microcosm of Nigeria.
“There is nowhere within the Federal Republic of Nigeria that has the character and the shape of the entire country as much as Lagos.
“Lagos is a melting pot for the entire tribe, tongues and faiths in Nigeria. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu either as governor first till 2007 and as leader of the party since 2007 till now, he has managed all the multi-facet problem in Lagos state either tribe, religion, ethnicity in such a way that there have been peace in Lagos state. The peace that we take for guaranteed.”