The All Progressives Congress, APC, have ruled out the possibility of flagging Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola as a running mate for their presidential candidate, Punch reveals.
Fashola’s religion plays an important role in the decision to rule him out, as the party will not want to field a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
The party is certain that a Muslim will emerge winner of the presidential primaries and have deemed it wise to pick a Christian running mate.
Out of the four aspirants, former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwakwanso; and a Leadership Newspaper publisher, Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah, only Nda Isaiah is not of the Muslim faith. He is a Christian.
According to the source, Fashola remained the best candidate for the position, he however regretted that the issue of religion would deny the party and the country the chance of fielding the governor.
He said, “You know that the South-West is a base for the APC and it also contributed immensely to its formation. We would have preferred Fashola because of his pedigree in the state. Moreover, of all the APC governors from the zone, he is the only one doing his second term.
“But this issue of religion is the problem. Apart from this, other APC governors from the zone are also Muslims. You may need to recall that the enemies of our party tried in vain before to label the party a Muslim party.
“Even though they have failed, we may also need to be guided by the words of advice from former President Olusegun Obasanjo against any party fielding same religion ticket. This is what is hampering us concerning Fashola, whose performance and competence cannot be queried.”
The source said that even though the national leadership of the party was aware that the people of the “South-West are not religious but we are dealing with a larger society now. So, we must be careful.”
