Akeredolu Defends Muslim – Muslim Ticket

The governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, argued that competency is the most important factor in supporting the same-faith APC presidential ticket.

The governor responded after Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima, both Muslims, received flak for running for president of the APC.

The governor insisted that other issues, not religion, should take centre stage in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election in an interview with Channels Television’s Politics Today.

“If you had listened to my lecture today, I was very clear. I said that religion is not the issue now. We have other issues that should be on the front burner today -restructuring; rotational presidency,” Akeredolu said on Wednesday.

“When you talk about religion, I am saying religion should have no part to play. Competence, knowledge, and your track record should come to play in this instance,” he added.

He claims that Tinubu’s inclusion on the ballot the next year has no bearing on his position. Instead, he blamed it on the transfer of power to southern Nigeria.

“If you listen to my lecture, I said if Obi is elected, that would be alright; if Bola Tinubu is elected, that would be alright. For me, it must come to the south,” the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) explained.

He insisted that the power-sharing arrangement, popularly known as zoning, in the nation should be upheld.

As far as he is concerned, “since 1999, there is an understanding that we move from north to south, rotate the presidency, and that if today, we have people who want to deploy what I will call manipulation of our people on the religious basis to think you can change it, then we should not accept it”.