Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has said Christians have nothing to fear with the same-faith presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
He assured that nobody can Islamise Nigerian as widely feared in many quarters.
He spoke on Politics Today, an interview show on Channels Television.
The ex- Minister, who defected to the APC from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), admitted he had warned of current administration’s plots to Islamise Nigeria.
He however said he has prayed about the matter and realised the same faith ticket poses no danger to Christians in particular.
In defending the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the party, Fani-Kayode said the choice was that of the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, adding the decision was made in the best interest of the country.
He admitted that no real Christian would be pleased with such a selection in the first place, however, the APC loyalist emphasised that there was nothing wrong with the choice.
According to him: “My choice to speak for APC and Tinubu has nothing to do with morals. It’s a question of choice. It’s my choice. When I was in the PDP, I fought against those that were against my party. Now I’m no longer in the PDP and I’m in the APC, I’ll fight against those that are against my party.
“That is my nature and I make these choices based on conviction and based on courage. The most important thing…the greatest danger to national unity and cohesion as far as I’m concerned…is a situation whereby power does not shift to the South after eight years of the Hausa/Fulani man ruling this country.
“And the APC has come up with a Southern candidate and that’s the most important thing. Now the choices that the Southern candidate makes are the choice he is comfortable with.
“Obviously, there are issues with the same faith ticket. There are issues with that. Any Christian that will tell you he is particularly happy with that then seriously speaking cannot be a real Christian.
“But as far as I’m concerned, it’s simply an issue of choice. The issue of Fulanisation we talked about has been thrown out of the window because the party we accused of that has shifted power to the South. When I joined the APC, I realized that things have completely changed.
“A country where we have about 22 Christian Governors, with the whole of South West all Christian Governors, tells you that this country cannot be Islamised and out party, the APC is not interested in that. We have reformed. We are moving forward,”
On Tinubu’s running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, the APC chieftain was of the opinion that the former Borno Governor had built more churches in the State than any other Governor before him.
“Same faith ticket is a challenge but we looked into it, I prayed and consulted about it and spoke to Kashim because all along the position has been it all depends on who’s the vice. It’s not about the faith. It’s about the individual.
“I discussed with Shettima for over three hours, I looked into his eyes and raised a number of personal questions that I needed to be certified and he certified me with his answers.
“He has built more churches in Borno than any other governor before him and since he has won the confidence of many Christians, so the issue of Islamization no longer arises,” Fani-kayode stated.
