2023: Cleric drums support for Tinubu

Jeleel Olawale

Amidst controversy generated over Tinubu/Shetima ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a frontline Islamic preacher, Ustaz Thanni Okunlola has described the APC Presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and his running mate, Kashim Shetima as best combination for the country, saying what we need is good results.

He said there is nothing special in the Tinubu/Shetima ticket since it is the wish of the presidential candidate to choose a Muslim as his running mate who could work with him since they can perform positively.

Okunlola made this known in an interview with Nigerian NewsDirect in Ede.

According to him, “If Muslim-muslim ticket is the best at this crucial period, then let’s use it and we are going to see the positive impact on the nation’s economy. So, what we need is good governance in the country.”

He described the opposition against the Tinubu/Shetima ticket as unpalatable, stressing that Tinubu  and Shetima have performed excellently well  when they  were Governor of Lagos and Borno states. The expectation is that they will bring positive results, “they have adjudged to have performed well while in office as Governors.”

“What the Christian Association of Nigeria is doing is not good for the country. Muslims are being tolerant and there should not be religion hatred against each other. Religion should be removed from politics and religion sentiment may give way to mediocre to take over governance of the country.

“Religion bigotry is not good for the country. All these agitations have no legs and it can allow other people to be agitating for their own rights and it can cause confusion in the polity which is not good for survival of the country.

“Politicians know what they want, they do their political calculation and arrive at Tinubu/Shetima ticket which they think will make them win election. I support the Tinubu/Shetima ticket if that is what will make them win the 2023 presidential election. They know it is that ticket that will pay them,” Okunlola declared.

Asked if the agitations will not affect the chance of Tinubu/Shetima in the election, the Cleric averred that it will not affect the chance of Tinubu winning the presidential election because we have had such combination before as Abiola and Kingibe won the 1993 presidential election.

“We have to remove religion from politics if we want our polity to grow because Nigeria is a secular state. The developed countries like United States of America, Britain, Russia, China have removed religion from politics and that is why there economy was able to grow.”

He dismissed the fear that Tinubu will islamise Nigeria, saying most of the Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s immediate family are Christians, “We should be happy we have person like Tinubu whom many people have benefited from irrespective of religion.”

Okunlola, therefore, urged CAN to “let’s live together as it is done in the South-West as brothers not as enemy so that the country can grow.”

He also admonished politicians not to heat up the polity and play the game according to its rules.