Keyamo, the spokesperson for the presidential campaign organisation of the party, while featuring on Channels TV's Politics Today on Friday said that there is nothing wrong with the party's choice.
Nigerian Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo has defended the choice of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu to run on a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the 2023 general elections.
Keyamo, the spokesperson for the presidential campaign organisation of the party, while featuring on Channels TV's Politics Today on Friday said that there is nothing wrong with the party's choice.
The presidential candidate of the party, Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shettima, are Muslims. This has generated public criticism with many Nigerians describing it as unfair in a multi-religious society like Nigeria.
The minister argued that the vice president does not balance power with the president but only supports the president and as such, it does not matter whether they are of the same religion or not.
He said, "I regret to announce to them (those against APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket) that the vice president does not balance power with the president. Constitutionally, the vice president supports the president.
"If they are looking for a balance of power, they are going the wrong route because the president gives the vice president assignment as he gives to ministers, chief of staff, secretary to the government of the federation and the rest.
"They are proceeding from a wrong premise to think that they want a vice president may be because they want their interests to be protected, no!
"The president is the commander-in-chief. Nobody shares that power with him, not even the vice president. Therefore, it does not make any sense to say you want to insist and bring down the country because you want a vice president. It doesn't work that way.
"If I were them, if it does matter, I am not saying it matters, I repeat, but if it does matter, they should be asking for the Senate President, for Chief Justice of Nigeria, because the government is on a tripod. Government is not the president and the vice president.
"If they want a balance of power, they should ask to head another part of the government if it does matter."
Keyamo further maintained that they have repeatedly emphasised that “political parties are designed to win elections, not to placate the ego of anybody”.
According to him, "People keep saying that Nigeria in 1993 is not Nigeria now. That Nigeria in 1993 when Abiola ran and won on a Muslim-Muslim ticket is not the Nigeria now, in other words, the argument of those people is that they agree that Nigeria was far better then when religion did not play role in our political life. Nigeria was one.
"Why is it now that they are given up hope? So, there is no hope again and since 'e don scatter', let's join hand and scatter it more and be doing Muslim-Christian and continue to scatter it. So, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Shettima will be the guinea pig to pull Nigeria back from that precipice.
"In four years' time, after anybody sees the format of Asiwaju and Shettima, if anybody comes out to say Muslim this, Christian that, they will stone that person because they will say that they don't want it again. We will put all those religious bigotries aside because we don't need them."