TRIBUNE NG
National Vice Chairman, ( North West) of the All Progressives Congress, Salihu Lukman has declared that federal lawmakers of Islamic faith, seeking to be President of the Senate of the 10th National Assembly should perish the thought.
Lukman in a statement, “Cash-and-Carry Contest for Leadership of 10th National Assembly,” released to newsmen at the weekend said the fact that both the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice-President, Kashim Shettima were both Muslims should preclude chieftains of same religion not to aspire to occupy the office of Senate President.
The former Director General of the Progressives Governors Forum maintained that it would portray the party as insensitive to the feelings of Nigerians, against the backdrop of the disaffection that trailed the APC single faith ticket.
Lukman who incidentally is a member of the APC National Working Committee also argued that allowing a Muslim to occupy the office of Senate President would breach provision of the 1999 Constitution.
His words;
Any Muslim aspiring for the position of Senate President has no respect for both the constitutions of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the APC. This is because Chapter II, Section 14(3) of the Nigerian constitution clearly outlined that ‘the composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few States or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.
