Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna, says the “fixation” of
Nigerians on the religion of political office holders is “pathetic and sad”.
El-Rufai spoke on Friday in an interview with Channels
Television.
With the election of presidential candidates of political
parties, there have been concerns about the religion of the candidates and
their intended running mates.
Since the two major political parties — All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) — have Muslim presidential candidates, many people, including the Christian Association of Nigeria have asked that their running mates should be Christians.
Asked to react to the speculation of a Muslim-Muslim
presidential ticket in the APC, the Kaduna governor said the business of
governance has nothing to do with religion.
He added that religion will not solve the problems of
Nigeria, adding it is the competency of the elected leaders that will solve the
problems.
“I don’t look at people from the lens of Muslim-Muslim or
Christian-Christian, some of my closest friends are Christians,” he said.
“It was Pastor Tunde
Bakare, a pentecostal pastor, who took me to CPC, not President Muhammadu
Buhari. I’m very close to Pastor Bakare. I’m very close to many Christians.
“I don’t think the business of governance has to do with
religion. I think we should look for the best person for the job. The person
who will get the job done.
“I’m the wrong person to ask that question because in my
state I picked a very competent and qualified woman as my running mate in the
2019 elections.
“But just because she happens to be a Muslim, people were
calling it Muslim-Muslim ticket and they said we are going to lose. We didn’t.
We won overwhelmingly.
“This fixation
of Nigerians with religion instead of
competence, capacity and capability is quite sad and pathetic and I urge you as
the media to take religion out of governance and let’s look for capacity,
competence and delivery.
“I don’t think we should be looking at religion. We want to
develop this country. When I get into a plane I don’t ask about the religion of
the pilot. When I go to the hospital, I don’t ask about the religion of the
doctor. I just want to get well and get to my destination even on an aircraft.
“Nigeria is at crossroads. We face very serious dangers in
security, economic meltdown, and global issues affecting us. All that people
are concerned with as far as who will be president and vice-president, is
religion.
“It is not our religion that will solve our problems. It is
people who are competent, capable that will address Nigeria’s problems, unite
the country and put it on a progressive path.”
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The midget is an unrepentant religious bigot. I almost put my well paying job on hold to support this descendant of invaders and hawks troubling true Nigerians. #Will meet you someday.
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