The All Progressives Congress (APC) deputy national chairman (North West), Alhaji Salihu Mohammad Lukman, has said political actors should de-emphasize the issues of religion and ethnicity in the choice of a running mate to the candidate of the party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Controversy is raging over the issue of a Muslim-Muslim ticket as Christian bodies have warned against such a combination ahead of the 2023 general polls.
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In a statement on Saturday in Abuja, titled, Issues for APC 2023 presidential campaign, Lukman, who is a member of the APC National Working Committee (NWC) and former director-general of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), said the focus should be on moving Nigeria forward.
He said APC leaders must acknowledge the fact that the 2023 elections present another golden opportunity for the party to reinvent itself, adding that with the landmark initiatives of the President Buhari government in the last seven years, challenges of insecurity are being used by opposition parties, especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to allege that the APC has failed.
“The 2023 presidential campaigns must not reduce important debates of moving Nigeria forward to sentimental considerations of ethnicity and religion. If the truth is to be told, both Islam and Christianity, as well as all our ethnic factors, have been used in equal measure to hold Nigeria at a standstill.
