My ambition is to develop Nigeria and not instigate religious crises ― Tinubu

Published by

3 years ago

Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has again urged the Christian community to play down religious sentiments and focus on the individual capacity of presidential hopefuls to turn around the fortunes of the electorate.

The APC presidential candidate made the appeal on Thursday while addressing the Pentecostal Bishops Forum of Northern Nigeria in Abuja.

The adoption of former Borno State governor, Senator Kashim Shettima has since courted the anger of certain leaders of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and members of the ruling party.

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Engineer Babachir Lawan have vowed to mobilise Christians in the North against the Muslim- Muslim ticket of their party. Incidentally, both APC chieftains are Christians from the North East.

Tinubu said his ambition was to develop Nigeria and not instigate religious crises.

He said,”How will Nigeria develop? How do we banish hunger? How do we improve the insecurity and how do we eliminate killing one another and others, shedding the blood of innocent citizens, that is what we must take to the office and not our religion.

“My intention is clear. Not in religiosity. My intention is to develop this country, to bring prosperity to our country and I have better qualifications, better track records, better exposure, better vision than any of my mates.”

The APC presidential candidate further gave an explanation of what informed his choice of Senator Shettima as his running mate: “When the shortlisted names came, I looked at the characters on the list, their background and everything and here is somebody, Kassim Shetimma, who is so brilliant, so committed, who, during the crisis in Bornu state protected Christians.”

He urged all Nigerians to shun religious sentiments and focus on national development.

In his response, Archbishop John Praise, Chairman of Pentecostal Bishops Forum of Northern Nigeria said voters of the Christian faith would be guided by their individual conscience on the choice of a presidential candidate.

“We are not committed to endorsing anybody but you should ask your conscience and from what you have heard and from the explanation given to us to make your own judgement of who will better rule and handle the country, he said.

ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE