The National Chairman of the South West Agenda (SWAGA) 2023, Senator Dayo Adeyeye, has said the uproar over the APC’s all Muslim ticket is unnecessary, because the next presidential election would be about “who is ready to offer hope to the people and improve our livelihood.”
Adeyeye who made the statement in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State on Friday during an event to receive hundreds of members of opposition parties in the state into SWAGA, also slammed the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, for criticising the choice of Kashim Shettima as Tinubu's running mate, saying if Tinubu were to lose the election over his choice, Atiku wouldn't be the best alternative.
He explained that the PDP candidate once supported the Muslim-Muslim ticket in 1993 with his moves to be the running mate of MKO Abiola, as such, has no moral right to criticize Tinubu for doing what he believes would help him achieve his goal in next year's election.
”Politics is a game of numbers and PDP can’t challenge us from the moral ground because their candidate, Atiku Abubakar believed in that ticket in 1993 as evidence has surfaced and don’t forget some of us were participants then. We knew he wanted to be vice president to MKO Abiola. So, if he was struggling to be on the ticket in 1993, why will he be opposing it now? It was evident he was going to pick Christian South this time because he is a Muslim from the North, and it is easier for him," Adeyeye said.
He urged Christians in the country who are concerned over same fate ticket, to not allow fear influence their choice in the next election.
“I want to allay the fears of our Christian brother because I am a Christian too and Tinubu is a man who is tolerant of other religions. This is a free-minded person who will not discriminate against anyone. Take it, if Tinubu finds it difficult to Islamize his wife, is that the person that will Islamize the country when the better half is Christian and Pastor?" he questioned.
On the perceived failures of the current APC-led government by the citizens, Adeyeye said the credentials and the track record of the presidential candidate when he was governor in Lagos and the trust Nigerians have in him would help in swaying the votes for the party.
“In Nigerian politics today, people should look at the personalities of those contesting and look at their track record and assess them based on what they have done in the past," he said.