Nigerians are still divided following the decision of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), to field an all Muslim presidential ticket ahead of next year's presidential election.
In what it argues as a pure political calculation devoid of religious sentiment, the APC has dismissed concerns over the choice of former Governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima as Bola Tinubu's running mate, saying it has nothing to do with an allege plan to Islamize the country.
But despite attempts by the APC to downplay the situation, the party has since lost the trust of Nigerians who wouldn't mind if the party ceases to exist following Buhari's 8 years of horror.
President Muhammadu Buhari has damaged the reputation of the party, as his unbalanced administration which is dominated by Muslims, led to the APC being labeled an Islamic Party.
Under his watch, Nigeria topped the list of countries where Christian persecution is said to occur on a regular basis. But despite the outrage, condemnations, criticism and allegations of an ongoing jihad against Christians, Buhari's compassionate response is to release 'repentant' terrorists back to the community.
Whether or not the plan is to decimate Christian population in the North, the fact that the presidential candidate of the APC suddenly no longer cares about Christian votes in the North, is very much telling.
With all that Christians endured under the Buhari government, it certainly would be difficult to convince them that the next president from the APC would be any different. This obviously would mean a total boycott of APC in the next election.
The APC know this. Tinubu knows this, which explains the choice of Shettima as running mate. Tinubu is desperate to rule the country, and this could be his only chance to do so. Relying on a people wounded by his party for support, would amount to a political suicide. He knew he was not being fair, but believes the sacrifice is worth it provided he gets what he wants.
Tinubu is simply a victim of his own desperation. The North understood this, and made sure he did something he knew would be controversial. Perhaps, it's a well orchestrated plan to cost him Christian votes in the North, giving Atiku an edge in the process, since not all Muslims would vote for APC anyway, and considering a vote for Atiku is a vote to keep power in the North much longer.
Muslims outnumber Christians by 100 times
Meanwhile, to further justify Tinubu's choice of a Muslim running mate, a buharist, who seems to approve Tinubu's choice, claims the ratio of Muslim to Christians in the country, is 100 to 1. In other words, the Muslim population is 100 times more than that of Christians.
Ibrahim Bello wrote, "Incase you don't know, not all Christian will vote for PDP or APC. And not all Muslims will vote for APC or PDP. Muslims population is x100 of Christian in Nigeria."
He then went on to make up numbers he believes constitutes the majority of Christian population in the country.
He wrote, "The Catholic Church has 6M members, Anglican Church 5M, ECWA 3.5M, HEKAN 4M, Living Faith Church 2.5M, RCCG 3M, Christ Embassy 500k, and the Lord's Chosen, 200k.
"Tinubu has made a good decision by picking Shettima a Muslim as his VP," he concluded.
While Mr Bello is obviously misinformed, it is however, a representative of how majority of the Muslim North view the demography of the country.
Even the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria (SCSN), has justified Tinubu's choice, saying as far as electoral value is concerned, the Muslim population hold the key to victory.
“We appreciate the right of each party to chose its flag-bearer. This is democracy, you don’t expect the majority Muslim north to be neglected in the political equation of this country," Secretary of the Council, AbdurRahman Hassan said.