Nigeria’s Ambassador-designate to South Africa, Femi Fani-Kayode, has warned that recent comments by Islamic cleric, Sheikh Yahaya Jingir, in favour of retaining a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket could undermine President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.
Fani-Kayode said Jingir’s position risked alienating Christian voters, deepening religious divisions and providing opposition parties with a campaign issue they could deploy against the All Progressives Congress ahead of the presidential election.
The former minister made the remarks in a Facebook post on Monday, reacting to comments attributed to Jingir at an event in Kano, where the cleric reportedly advocated the continued adoption of Muslim-Muslim presidential tickets and identified himself as a strong supporter of the arrangement.
Fani-Kayode said the remarks had generated concern among Nigerians across religious lines, claiming that he received more than 100 calls and messages from Christians and Muslims after the comments were published.
He said he was particularly disturbed by the reaction of the Kano State governor, whom he accused of openly cheering and celebrating Jingir’s position.
“There is only one thing worse and that saddened me more than what he said and that is to have seen my friend and brother, the Governor of Kano State, cheering him on and celebrating it,” Fani-Kayode said.
He warned political actors against turning religious identity into an instrument of political mobilisation, arguing that doing so could aggravate existing tensions and have consequences beyond the 2027 election.
“We will not keep quiet and watch our faith being dragged all over the floor because of politics. Matters of faith and salvation are far more important than anything we see or get in this world.
“Politics and earthly power come and go but faith and the afterlife is eternal. This divisive rhetoric has to stop and we should stop playing with fire,” he said.
According to Fani-Kayode, Jingir’s comments were particularly ill-advised given Nigeria’s sizeable Christian population and the international controversy surrounding allegations of religious persecution in the country.
“You do not talk like that in a country with over 120 million Christians. This is especially so when we are already being falsely accused of Christian genocide and of harbouring an agenda to Islamise the country and do away with all Christians by some of our American friends,” he said.
He argued that the cleric’s comments could inadvertently lend credibility to narratives that the government and its supporters have consistently rejected, while also weakening the ruling party’s electoral prospects.
“Jingir is not only feeding into that false narrative with his reckless words, but he is also endangering the chances of our candidates in the 2027 presidential election because in order for us to win, we need BOTH Muslim AND Christian votes.
“What he has done is given the opposition something to hold on to and use against us and this is unfortunate,” he said.
Fani-Kayode maintained that Christian voters would be reluctant to support a political platform they believed considered members of their faith to be “infidels”, adding that some Muslims from different political backgrounds had also condemned Jingir’s remarks.
He stressed that the cleric’s position should not be interpreted as the official position of the APC or as a reflection of the views of Nigerian Muslims generally.
“Jingir does not represent the feelings of the APC and neither does he speak for us. He only speaks for himself,” Fani-Kayode said.
He urged Jingir to exercise greater restraint when commenting on political and religious matters, particularly where such remarks could offend or alienate members of other faiths.
Fani-Kayode also called on the Department of State Services to invite and caution the cleric, warning that inflammatory religious rhetoric could heighten tensions in an already politically charged environment.
The ambassador-designate, however, clarified that his own support for a Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2027 was not rooted in religious considerations but in his assessment of the competence and electoral capacity of the candidates.
“We are supporting a Muslim/Muslim ticket for 2027, as we did in 2023, only because of the calibre, ability, sincerity of purpose, character, utility and electoral strength of our Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates and their ability to deliver and not because they are Muslims,” he said.
He added that a Christian-Christian presidential ticket could also emerge in the future, insisting that Nigerians should focus more on candidates, policies and performance than religious identity.
“We must leave religion out of politics and consider issues, policies and personalities instead,” he said.
Fani-Kayode further described Jingir’s position as that of an individual rather than a reflection of the wider Muslim community, insisting that the cleric did not speak for the majority of Nigerian Muslims.
He also accused Jingir of damaging the political standing of Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima by publicly advocating the religious configuration of the ticket.
“Jingir has done immense damage to President Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima by talking in this way and I suspect that he is secretly working against them,” he said.
Fani-Kayode consequently urged Jingir to apologise to Christians and Nigerians generally, while calling for greater restraint and reconciliation in political discourse ahead of the 2027 elections.
