By Bukola Olasanmi
A chieftain of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir Lawal, has said that his party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, will lose the 2023 election as a result of the same faith ticket.
Babachir said he and others supported Tinubu to win the primary election, but they later realised he had been hiding his decision to pick a Muslim running mate from them.
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Babachir said he is no longer supporting Tinubu and APC will lose the presidential election.
Speaking with BBC, the former SGF said, “I am not for Bola Tinubu now. I am not for a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“It is Bola who did not want to go with us, he chose where he wants to go, and we told him that we will not vote for him if he did a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) discussed with us and they agreed to do what we want if we support them and we agreed to support them.
“PDP is fielding a Muslim-Christian ticket, with Atiku Abubakar as its presidential candidate while Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State is his running mate.”
Babachir added that the Labour Party tried so much to convince him and other aggrieved members to work for the party.
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He added, “You see the problem of the northerners, if you say you are a Christian, it is difficult for us to get a job.
“You see, of the 27 universities in the north, there are only two Christian VCs and of 27 polytechnics there are only two Christian rectors, that’s federal, but not to talk of state-owned.”
Babachir complained that the ‘discrimination’ shown to Christians in the North is too much for them, “and you still went ahead to do Muslim-Muslim ticket; that is double blow on us.
“If he sees that he will win the election, let’s see how he will win the election.”
He maintained that he is still in the APC but he and his people would not support Tinubu.
Regarding the fact that he might be accused of anti-party conduct, Babachir said he was bothered even if he would be insulted.
“If Buhari leaves politics, I will also leave because I joined politics because of him,” he added.
