2023: Tinubu, APC wasting time with Muslim-Muslim ticket, Dogara insists

Ahead of the February 25 and March 11 general elections, immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara has said that Muslim Muslim ticket of the rulling All Progressives Congress, APC, will polarize the country along religious and tribal lines.

Dogara who was a keynote speaker during the Arewa Christian Indigenous Pastors Association, ACIPA’s day of prayers, awards and book dedication/launch at Evangelical Church of West Africa, ECWA in Jos, Plateau State on Sunday urged Nigerians to reject the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, saying the ticket was against the unity of the country.

Underscoring the importance of not comprising competence and character in the election of Nigeria’s president, Dogara said that Tinubu had a lot of baggages that will make him a foreign asset should he become the next president to the detriment of the people.

He said: “The crucial role we can play as Christians is to examine the character of the candidates running for offices especially the highest office in the country and disavow those of them that we know are not a reflection of our moral ethos. Some may say it is bitter politics, but it is not, because, anyone putting himself in a position to lead others has wittingly or unwittingly placed his character to be called to question. This is because without character, you can not influence people and without influence, you can not lead people. Once we know the truth, failure to declare the truth we know, is not virtue, but cowardice. Thanks to the leadership of CAN for long taking a stand against the Muslim – Muslim ticket of the APC mainly because it is capable of polarizing our politics along religious line. They wanted a balanced ticket so that all of us, Muslims and Christians in Nigeria will unite behind it to build a nation that works for all of us. But in addition to this, we now have many other reasons not to back the APC ticket.

“As a Scandinavian adage instructs us, “you may dress the shepherd in silk but he will still smell of the goat”. The more his handlers attempt to dress him in silk, the more he smells of the he-goat. Since he won’t talk to you on his campaign tours, he won’t talk to you when he is in power. Which one is easier? To talk to you when he is seeking for your votes or explain himself when he is in power? When he does talk, he pledges he is waging a jihad to Muslim leaders as amply elucidated by a serving North West Governor but when he talks to Christians he says he will be fair and just to Christians because his partner is a Christian. The perfect act of a con artist. A con succeeds only because he makes you keep your focus on what you will gain while distracting you from focussing on what you stand to lose.

“It’s all a scam and nothing less or else. They only dance in their campaign because they don’t have anything to say to you and when they pick the courage to talk, all we hear is that, “it is his turn to chop because he didn’t chop alone”. What an epic clown show! Being illogical is a master strategy every cult leader adopts because of their belief that they are immune to the norms of established society. Hitler was deliberately illogical because he knew that logic can be met with logic but it is difficult to handle illogic. Is it not a crime for anyone who claims to love Nigeria not to call this man or and his handlers out? This is not politics of hate, it’s rather called gate keeping. It is securing the health of our republic and therefore every citizens task.

“In leadership, no leader leads people to a place he/she has never been. This man can only reproduce what he is, not what he wants to be. The world knows who he is and we now know too. Putting him as president would be a loud statement to the world that that is who we are or that we want to create another golden triangle in West Africa. Electing a president that has so much known baggages means the countries with records of his past crimes can use it to leverage on him. That makes him a foreign asset. Which sane people have ever elected a known foreign asset to lead them and still hope to compete with other nations.

“Unfortunately, we don’t care about substance anymore, it is all tribalism. Is he in our team and are we going to get what we want? These are the questions that keep agitating our minds when electing leaders. With this inverted value system, if you have ever wondered how the bottom looks like in terms of leadership recruitment in Nigeria, this is it! But for Nigeria to rise, we must refuse to compromise on the competence and character of anyone who wants to be president of this country. I am yet to meet a farmer who sows chaff and expects a bountiful harvest.”