This was stated by a presidential aide, Mr Bayo Onanuga when he was hosted by Seun Okinbaloye on a live podcast, ‘Mic On’, which was monitored by SaharaReporters.
The Presidency has berated Peter Obi, the former Labour Party presidential candidate for allegedly inflaming religious and ethnic issues to push his political ambition.
This was stated by a presidential aide, Mr Bayo Onanuga when he was hosted by Seun Okinbaloye on a live podcast, ‘Mic On’, which was monitored by SaharaReporters.
He said, “What I know about the campaign of Obi was that for the first time in a very long while in our country, we had a candidate who was inflaming ethnic passions. And that was the way the election went at that time. He was inflaming ethnic passions, religious passions, bringing two dangerous things to our politics – ethnicity and religion. That is what he did. And those things were dangerous to our Nigerian politics.”
Onanuga added that his principal did not choose his running mate because he was a fellow Muslim.
He said: “If Asiwaju (Bola Tinubu) had done that, we would not have lost Lagos. (Muslim-Muslim ticket) was not religious. Muslim-Muslim ticket did not even win him massive votes; let’s say in Borno where his deputy came from. The man he picked as his VP, he believed that Shettima had the qualities to support him or to be his Vice President. That is why he picked him. He was not looking at religion.”
SaharaReporters had reported that the Supreme Council on Islamic Sharia in Nigeria (SCSN) had withdrawn its support for President Bola Tinubu’s government.
SCSN noted that it also regretted voting for the Muslim-Muslim ticket, saying President Tinubu had relegated the country’s Muslims to the background.
The Secretary-General of the council, Nafiu Baba Ahmed, said, “We were in the vanguard of mobilising scholars, various sects and Islamic groups to bring this government to power. But the scholars and various groups feel neglected, accusing the government of turning its back on Muslims, despite voting in the Muslim-Muslim ticket.”
