Muslim-Muslim Ticket: ‘Tinubu Not A Religious Bigot, Those Against His Choice Are Childish’

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Magnus Abe has backed the decision of the party’s presidential candidate, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, to pick Senator Ibrahim Shettima as his running-mate.

Speaking on Arise TV on Thursday, the former lawmaker said he backed Tinubu’s choice even though both of them belong to the same religion.

He said: “Let me say that he is on record as somebody who has supported people for offices, positions, and everything without minding what religion and how they worship their God.

“So, this is a man who already has a track record of bringing people together, and I believe that Nigerians should give him an opportunity to do what he knows how to do best, which is to bring people together and get the best out of them. I think that is the path that he is on.

“Those who are making the allegations that the only reason he picked Shettima is because of religion, if I am to be very honest, I think they are childish.”

According to Magus Abe, Shettima was the first choice of the committee set up to make recommendations to the APC presidential candidate on the choice of running mate.

He said: “If you know Shettima and have heard about him and his track record, there is nobody I have heard who have complained or said that he is incompetent, or he is incapable, or he is not cerebral enough. Those are the qualities that we are looking for.

“That is the reason why he was chosen. So, for those who are upset about it, my appeal for them would be just give this man a chance. He knows what he is doing; let us give him a chance to do what he knows how to do best.”

He added that Tinubu’s wife of over 40 years is a Christian, which shows his high level of religious tolerance.

Abe said: “Senator Oluremi Tinubu is a Pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God and she is his partner for forty something years. She is closer to him than anybody else. She is a Christian.

“So, it shows that he has a very high level of religious tolerance in him to begin with. So, fears that he will do anything he is doing based on religion would naturally be unfounded because if he was a religious bigot, it should start from his home. But that evidence is not there.

“Secondly, this is a man who has governed a state and a state that is multi-religious, and he himself was a Muslim while he was governor of Lagos State. But, there was no evidence, there have never ever been any noise there. There has never been an issue that Asiwaju throughout his tenure as governor did anything for or against anybody based on their faith.”