The Minister of State, Labour & Employment, Festus Keyamom, has asked Nigerians to steer clear of religious leaders asking them to consider religious sentiments when casting their votes come 2023.
This comes off reactions by certain quarters and some Christian political leaders within the All Progressives Congress (APC) rejecting the party’s decision to field Kashim Shettima as the running mate of the presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
The duo Tinubu and Shettima are Muslims.
“No one should deceive us, as ordinary Nigerians, be it a pastor or Imam, to vote or not to vote for anyone based on the religious colouration of the ticket,” Keyamo detailed in a series of tweets on Wednesday.
“Let the debate begin as to the PERFORMANCE of Bola Yinubu as Gov. of Lagos State and not the issue of same faith ticket.”
He added that good governance is what Nigerians need as humanity will be the weapon to fight “off the elites selfishly trying to smuggle religion into politics.”
Keyamo lauded the presidential flagbearers of the APC as successful governors of their states respectively with foresight for choosing the right successors.
“So, the APC comes to the table with two highly successful State Chief Executives who did excellently well in their States during their tenures, picked excellent successors (Fashola and Zulum) & a former First Lady and distinguished Senator. It is a case of buy one, get three free,” he said.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria tried to allay the fears of those calling the Muslim -Muslim ticket a disaster insisting the one-time governor of Lagos was respectful of other religions.
‘Nigerians & Christians, in particular, should have NOTHING TO FEAR in respect of a President & Commander-in-Chief (by God’s Grace and the votes of Nigerians.”
“Bola Tinubu allowed his only wife to be a practising Christian and a Pastor under the same roof for about 40 years!