2023: Dogara, Babachir, Others Adopt Consensus Candidate

The fight over the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) took a twist, yesterday, as northern Christian leaders resolved to work with their Muslim counterparts in the north to adopt one of the presidential candidates .

The group led by former Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal have stoutly resisted the APC same faith ticket insisting it does not reflect the religious plurality of  the country and should not be allowed to fly.

In recent weeks, the group has held series of consultations with key stakeholders in the party, the northern region and country demanding  withdraw of support for the ticket.

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On Saturday, the group held a consultative meeting and dialogue with Northern APC Christian leaders and Northern Muslim political leaders at NAF Conference Centre, Kado, Abuja.

A communique issued at the end of the meeting, yesterday, said those in attendance agreed not to support the Tinubu/Shettima ticket, but to work together and jointly adopt a pan-Nigerian political platform that would  engender unity, inclusiveness and a sense of belonging among Nigerian citizens.

The communique was jointly signed by former deputy governor of Sokoto State, Yakubu Dogara and former Minister of Water Resources, Mukhari Shagari.

It read in parts: “Conscious of multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural configuration of Nigeria we believe a same faith ticket and voting along religious lines may trigger dangerous dimensions of negative consequences among our disparate peoples in ways that will hamper nation building.

“Consequently, we have agreed to channel our energies on matter that unite us more as a people instead of encouraging attacks on sensitives issues bordering on religion in the name of politics. In view of the above, we have agreed to set up a committee with the mandate to fashion out strategies for advancing the objectives set forth in this resolution.”

It listed tose present at the meeting to include Boni Haruna, Abdulfatah Ahmed, Yakubu Dogara, Lawal, Damishi Sango, Idris Ahmed Umar, Yomi Awoniyi and Simon Achuba.

Others are Ummara Kumalia, Baba Shehu Agaie, Monday Morgan, Ishaya Bauka, Mohammed Sani Sidi, John Bawa, Iliya Stephen Msheliza, Sarah Allabeh-Nanpon, Shina Ibiyemi and Auwalu Anwar, among others.