By KEMI KASUMU
The place of the North and Muslims in Nigerian politics is one that mere sentiment of a minority South, in all ramifications, cannot underrate in a democracy, former Governor of Abia State and currently ranking Senator of the Nigerian Senate, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu’s position has implied.
Kalu, while fielding questions from Journalists in Abuja, responded to a particular Journalist that threw professionalism to a corner and retorted in plain language that by Muslim-Muslim ticket “it means that Tinubu is putting his feet too much in the hands of the North against his own South”.
To the questioner, the Abia State Senator replied with another question that ended the interview as Kalu asked: “Are Northerners not Nigerians? Are they not Nigerians? No, I ask you….”, no answer and interview ended.
Earlier, Senator Kalu had warned Tinubu, in his own candid opinion, against risking the 2023 election with a two minorities ticket that means a Muslim South and Christian North if winning the election is paramount to his mind and the party.
Kalu told the Journalists, “Listen, do you want me to speak the truth?” The Journalists replied “Yes sir, we want you to speak the truth” and he began.
“If I am in Ahmed Bola Tinubu situation, the wife is already a pastor in a pentecostal church, I will go Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“What is most important is for the party to win. We should stop all this rubbish about whether we put a Christian there, after all, if we win, already the wife is a pastor they have been living together for over forty something years. I have known them this far.
“So, what do you want to blame about…? She is already like a deputy President, if I’m to say. I’m saying my opinion. This is Orji Kalu’s opinion, I’m a Catholic. You cannot deny me my opinion.
“But we can also play Christian-Christian ticket, depending on the scenario. If we don’t play Muslim-Muslim ticket we are in trouble. It will be most difficult to win the election. The only thing left for Ahmed Tinubu today is to play Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“I know that the Church I go, the Catholic Mission Secretariat, might condemn it to say it’s not good. What is wrong with Muslim-Muslim ticket? I don’t see anything, in my eye, there is nothing wrong with Christian-Christian ticket also. It depends on the condition.
“The condition we found ourselves today is that you cannot play two minorities. Tinubu is a minority Muslim from the South, and if you put a Christian from the North, he is minority Christian from the North. You cannot play two minorities. It is difficult,” he warned.
“What I am telling you is sincerely from my mind. It is not the position of our party. The is Orji Uzor Kalu’s position,” he said.
