An elderstàtesman and immediate past Secretary General of the influenctial Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Anthony Sani has advised the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential flag bearer, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the leadership of the party to pick a Christian from the North as vice President. This, according to him, is the surest way to peace and unity in view of the pervading realities in the country.
He urged Tinubu not to be intimidated by anyone under any pressure to fall for what can bring disunity and increased suspicion in the country.
According to him, the former Speaker of the Federal house of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara fits perfectly into the new consideration.
He said, “Dogara is a young man with sufficient public intelligence with a rich electoral asset. If you look at his electoral value he has never lost any election”.
Sani stated this on Monday in Jos the Plateau state capital while speaking to Journalists ahead of the 2023 general election.
He argued that the former speaker was able to command national respect because of his liberal disposition and because of that, given his liberal posture, “I am tempted to recommend him for the position of the Vice President of Nigeria”.
“My suggestion does not mean that I have influence on Tinubu and the leadership of APC, but Tinubu has earlier said he knows how to hunt for his first eleven and as far as I am concerned Dogara can make his first eleven.”
Sani also wondered why the controversy on whether he should pick a Christian northerner or a Muslim, adding that the constitution is very clear on it in respect to the federal character which says “no group should dominate as such a thing will not promote unity of the country.”
“As far as Nigeria is concerned the dividing lines today are about three, ethnicity, religion and regions and there is no way the President can pick his running mate from his region.
He further stressed, “So if there are three dividing lines, for instance, if the President comes from a region, the Vice President from the other side. If the President is coming from the South, naturally the Vice President should come from the North.”
He argued that because religion is also part of the three dividing lines, the Constitution expect that the Vice President should come from opposite of the president’s religion.
“Some people have been saying, it should not happened that way, but the country today is being divided along ethnic, region and religious line. So there is no way Tinubu will pick his Vice from the South nor Northern Muslim as Vice President.
According to him, Tinubu has made it very clear that he is coming to unite the country and not to divide it and if people are talking of Muslim, Muslim ticket he wonders if you they are mindful of the federal character.
“With the way I perceived Tinubu, he wants to unite the country so that it will be peaceful for the younger generation to inherit, he is not expecting Tinubu to pick a Muslim from the North as his running mate”, he said.
