2023: Same-faith Ticket, Suicide Mission For APC – Arewa Christian Youth

Posted by Thandiubani on Wed 07th Sep, 2022 - tori.ng

Briefing journalists in Abuja, Maiyaki urged the party to act before September 20 when the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The All Progressives Congress has been told that its decision to fly a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket in 2023 is a suicide mission.

The League of Concerned Christian Youths in the All Progressives Congress, APC said this while rejecting the ticket.

Convener of the group, Patrick Maiyaki, suggested yesterday that the best way to avert electoral doom was for APC to balance its presidential ticket along religious divides by immediately withdrawing Senator Kashim Shettima from the race.

Briefing journalists in Abuja, Maiyaki urged the party to act before September 20 when the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is expected to publish the final list of presidential candidates for the 2023 elections.“According to him, the leadership of the APC must come to terms with the reality that fielding a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the presidential elections remained a suicide mission that must be aborted fast, if the party is desirous of success at the presidential election."

He said: “Our concern for the chances of the party in the 2023 presidential elections stems from the Muslim-Muslim Ticket of the party in the presidential elections, which has generated enormous reactions from the nook and cranny of the country.

“That decision has indeed portrayed the party in the most unpleasant light before the generality of Nigerians, as a party devoid of religious and ethnic tolerance concerning the plurality of the country.

“The implication of the APC losing the presidential election cannot be overemphasized, hence the need for the party’s leadership to act with utmost honesty and sincerity of heart and purpose to realize that the Muslim-Muslim Ticket would work against the party in the presidential elections.

“As a group, we believe all hope is not lost as the chances of the APC would be bolstered, should the leadership of the party effect a change in the composition of the party’s presidential ticket.

“The fact that Nigerians have randomly rejected the Muslim-Muslim ticket before the election indicates that the outcome of the presidential elections would not be any different, hence the need for urgent actions toward rejigging the party’s presidential ticket for the polls.

“We wish to state that the APC is blessed with an array of Christian candidates that can complement the presidential Ticket with the utmost respect to the vice presidential candidate of the party, Senator Kashim Shettima.

“We are therefore using this medium to appeal to the leadership of the party to take advantage of the opportunity to make a replacement for the vice presidential candidate of the party before the expiration of the deadline issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

“Our emphasis remains on how to win the elections for the party. One of the ways the party can lose the elections is if it goes ahead with the Muslim-Muslim ticket that has been condemned and rejected by the bulk of Nigerians.

“The leadership of the party must see this as a necessity and the need for urgent intervention to save the party from electoral misfortunes, not just at the presidential elections but also in the general elections at the state and federal levels.

“We still believe in the chances of the party at the elections, hence this request for urgent intervention to save the party from impending doom in the presidential election.”