By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
Vice President Kashim Shettima has urged senators-elect to vote for the anointed candidates of the All Progressives Congress for the position of Senate President and Deputy Senate President in the 10th National Assembly.
He insisted that “under the current dispensation the worst, the most incompetent southern Christian is better than the most puritanical northern Muslim for the presidency of the Senate.”
Shettima stated this late Saturday at a dinner organised by the Stability Group for newly elected senators in Abuja.
The Stability Group was formed by the senators who are campaigning for the election of Senators Godswill Akpabio and Barau Jibrin who had both been anointed by the APC for the position of Senate President and Deputy Senate President in the 10th National Assembly.
Shettima said it would not be fair and just to have Muslims at the helm of affairs of the three arms of government.
He said, “Here we are with a Muslim President and a Muslim Vice President in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious polity like ours. I was a child of circumstance
“Equity, justice, and fairness demand that the number three citizen of this country should be the Christian. What binds us together supersedes whatever divides us. But most importantly we should make deliberate efforts to take inclusivity in governance.
“This is a young nation where every community will like to have fair representation on the dinner table of their kinsmen. Politics is about perception, politics is about optics.
“I want to appeal to you I want to appeal to your conscience. There is stability and inclusivity and togetherness in this nation that supersedes the depth of our pockets, stability of our pockets. We are talking about the sustainability of the nation. The nation is at a crossroads.
“Number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 all of the same faith for God’s sake! I’m ready to kneel and beg my colleagues for the sake of the nation. This is for the survival of this nation.”
The Director-General of the Stability Group Campaign Organisation, Senator Ali Ndume, said, “We are 62 senators-elect in this room and by the time the former Deputy Governor of River State comes on board we will be 63. We also have seven people who are on this group who took permission.
“The immediate past governor of Niger State is also a co-chairman of our group. Everyone who is in this hall is people we are very sure of, others couldn’t make it because of the short notice. We have 73 people who have signed for us, we are working very hard to support you in your course for the stability of this country.”
In his comments, Jibrin said posterity would vindicate advocates of ethnic and religious balancing in our polity.
He said, “Posterity would be fair to you and when the time comes, a lot would be said for you.”
