Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has slammed those making religion a focal point in governance.
The Governor said he does not care if the President and his vice are all Muslim or all Christians, insisting that what matters at this point is the delivery of good governance.
To buttress his point, Governor El-Rufai recalled that it was a Lagos-based Pentecostal pastor, Tunde Bakare that brought him into the CPC in 2014 and not President Muhammadu Buhari as it is believed in the general public.
El-Rufai, who is believed to be among those who could be favoured for the All Progressives Congress, APC’s Vice president slot, said people should rather focus on the ability, capacity and competency of individuals instead of their regions.
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a Southern Muslim, won the APC presidential primary after he scored 1,271 to defeat his closest challenger, Amaechi, who polled 316.
The search for running mates for parties’ flagbearers is now in earnest, following the Independent National Electoral Commission’s order to all presidential candidates to submit names of their co-contestants in one week.
Many individuals and groups have vehemently kicked against any move by Tinubu and the APC to pick a Muslim as vice.
But El-Rufai in an interview with Channels Television on Friday evening, said, “I don’t look at people from Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Christian angle. Most of my closest friends are Christians.
“It was Pastor Tunde Bakare, a pentecostal pastor, that took me to CPC, not President Buhari. I’m very close to Bakare. I’m very close to many Christians.
“I don’t think the business of governance has anything to do with religion. I think we should look for the best person for the job. A person that will get the job done and let him do that.
“I’m the wrong person to ask because in my State I picked a very competent and qualified woman as a running mate in the 2019 election but just because she happens to be a Muslim people were calling it ‘Muslim-Muslim ticket’ and they said we were going to lose but we won overwhelmingly.
“This fixation of Nigerians on religion instead of conscience, capacity and capability is quite sad and pathetic and I urge you as the media, please take religion out of governance. I don’t think we should be looking at religion.
“Let’s develop this country… Nigeria is at crossroads, we face very serious dangers in security, in economic meltdown…but all people are concerned as far as who will be President or Vice president is concerned, is religion. It’s so sad. It’s not our religions that will solve our problems.”
