El-Rufai On Muslim-Muslim Ticket: Fixation Of Nigerians On Religion Is Pathetic

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has blamed the silence of the President Muhammadu Buhari, for the decision reached by many delegates to vote for Bola Tinubu as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress.

He said this while appearing as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

However, Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai said the issue of competence should override religious considerations.

Asked for his opinion on the issue of Muslim-Muslim ticket on Channels Television yesterday, El-Rufai said: “I have no problem with that. Nigerians should de-emphasise religion. Competence should be the keyword.”

Citing Kaduna State as an example, he said: “When I picked a fellow Muslim as my running mate in 2019, people said I would lose the election but we won with a landslide.

“I have Christians as friends, but the issue of religion should not be a factor in politics.

“If Bola Tinubu decides to go for a Muslim-Muslim ticket, so be it; we’ll support him.”

El-Rufai also yesterday revealed how President Muhammadu Buhari refused to dictate how delegates from his state should vote at the APC presidential primaries.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, El-Rufai said President Buhari told the delegates to “vote their conscience.”

“In many of our states, the delegate votes were divided,” he said.

The Kaduna State governor added: “Before I went to address the Kaduna delegates for the last time, I went to the President and I asked him, have you decided on who we should vote for? He said, I told you, go and vote for any of the five (candidates selected by APC governors)

“I said, Mr President, the Kaduna delegates are your delegates, you are going to retire and live in Kaduna. So you can tell me who you want out of the five, and the President said ‘I want all five’.

“I said what then should I tell Kaduna delegates? He said, tell them to vote their conscience; they are representing 10 million people in Kaduna State. It’s a heavy responsibility, and they should discharge it and pick the best candidate.

“Now I don’t know how the Kaduna delegates voted, but the feedback I got after the voting is that most of them voted for Asiwaju, some voted for Amaechi and some voted for Professor Yemi Osinbajo.”