Human rights lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), has again warned political parties plotting to field Muslim-Muslim candidates as flag bearers in the 2023 general elections that they are acting contrary to the provisions of the constitution.

It had been reported earlier today that the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu’s camp was mulling to field a Muslim, Senator Kashim Shettima, who is former governor of Borno State as the Vice-Presidential candidate of the party.

But reacting in a statement on Tuesday, Adegboruwa said Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution stipulates that there must be equal representation of religious beliefs in the selection of candidates.

The section stated,

The Government of the Federation or of a State shall not adopt any religion as State Religion.

Adegboruwa said,

In the face of section 10 of the Constitution, where do we garner the banal courage to propagate a Muslim-Muslim ticket in this fractured entity?

The audacity of such barefaced heartlessness beats any imagination. What could be the rationale? Superiority of faith? Enforcement of international conspiracies? A new form of Jihad? Or is it a matter of distrust for or supposed inferiority of South-West Muslims? Or is it that the South-West Muslim is not Muslim enough or Northern Christian not Northern enough?

It is still the same elite, who throw up these bankrupt theories to create friction where there should be none. Even if the Christian population were to be less than it is now, the liberal concept of freedom of religion and thought should weigh in to balance the power equation.

A representative of the Muslim faith has been in the saddle since 2015, with little or no capacity to tame the monstrous incursion of the jihadists, who even descend on innocent Muslims without thought.

And yet the statistics show that from the South-South and the South-East, there is an incontestable monopoly of faith across the land and some would have us believe that they do not matter.

In what way do we explain to those of them in Ondo, in Ekiti, powerful, Ogun and Oyo States that they shuld continue to play second fiddle due to the recklessness of some power monsters who love to deploy religion as a tool for power retention. Just perish the thought altogether.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.