Kashim Shettima, Vice President-Elect, says having Muslims as leaders of the two chambers of the national assembly will further distablize the already polarised country.
Mr Shettima, who ran on the same faith ticket with his principal, Bola Tinubu, a fellow Muslim, despite public outcry, during this year’s general election which they won, stated this on Friday while addressing some House of Representatives members-elect.
Tempers flared after the ruling party recently announced its zoning formula for the composition of the coming 10th national assembly next month.
Some legislators-elect kicked against the party’s decision to micro-zone the Senate Presidency to the South-South and Speaker of the House of Representatives to the North-West.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) also announced that the Deputy Senate President should come from the North-West while the South-East goes for the position of Deputy House Speaker.
It nominated Godswill Akpabio as Senate President; Tajudeen Abbas, Speaker House of Representatives; Barau Jibrin, Deputy Senate President while Benjamin Kalu is Deputy House Speaker.
Aggrieved aspirants, mostly Muslims, are protesting the nomination with some vowing to go against the decision of the party.
Addressing some of them, the Vice President-Elect said the APC was avoiding a situation where all the top officials of the incoming administration would be of the same faith which might result to instability.
Mr Shettima explained that having Muslims in the top four leadership positions could further lend credence to the Islamization agenda narrative.
“What we are trying to avoid is a situation whereby the number one citizen, number two citizen, the number three citizen, and the number four citizen are all of the same faith,” he said. “That will lend credence, and validate the negative narrative of the Islamisation agenda of Nigeria.
‘This is why my principal, a fair-minded leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is more inclined towards having the number three citizen from the South/south or the south-east. Even in the current circumstance that we find ourselves in, the stability of the nation is much more important than any other consideration.
“All other considerations have to be relegated to the background because we are talking about the stability of the nation.
“We are talking about inclusivity, we are talking about togetherness because nation-building is a continuous work in progress and politics is about perception, it is about optics. I am quite glad that Benjamin Kalu will emerge as the deputy speaker. The hope for the black man rests with the people of this country.”
