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Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara
By Akanji Alowolodu, Bauchi
Again, the immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives, Barr Yakubu Dogara has declared that the adoption of a Muslim-Muslim Presidential and Vice Presidential ticket by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), is capable of leading Nigeria to go the way of the Nazi Germany.
In a speech he delivered at a summit organized by APC Northern Christians Leaders Summit with the theme, ‘Righteousness Exalts A Nation, but sin IA a reproach to any people’ , held on Friday in Abuja, Yakubu Dogara argued that, “Truth must be told that anyone who is not bringing us together is consciously tearing us apart”.
He further declared that the ruling APC wants to disintegrate Nigeria like, USSR, Yugoslavia a development he said must not be allowed to happen not now that efforts are on to make Nigeria a united entity.
According to him, “When we talk about a Muslim-Muslim ticket; God forbid that we should be understood to be objecting to Muslims or that we don’t want Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to be President . It is not about Senator Kashim Shettima either, but it about what is right and what is wrong”.
He added that, “It is about justice, fairness and equity. It is about Nigeria; it’s diversity and how it can be harnessed in an inclusive manner for the greater good of all of us. Be that as it may, some of us really wanted Asiwaju to be president because he has sacrificed much for our Party, the APC and for what he represents to so many people. So, our position cannot be against Muslims or Islam. That fact cannot be denied in any way”.
“But when it comes to choosing between the love and admiration I have for an individual and what is right and what I believe represents my vision for Nigeria, my choice will clearly be for the latter”, he added.
Yakubu Dogara further said that, “After all, my rise to the position of Speaker was never going to be possible without the support of some Muslim members who believed that our diversity must be reflected in national positions for the unity, peace and advancement of our dear country”.
He stressed that, “What gives me more hope about the Nigeria project is that there are many of our Muslim brothers and leaders who did not only warn the APC, but have had to call out the APC for adopting a Muslim-Muslim ticket which resulted into the Party ructions we are witnessing today”.
Going down memory lane, he said that, “In 2015, when we were called “janjeweed party”, my response was usually very simple. I could then say that, HE John Oyegun was the Chairman of my party and my Vice-Presidential candidate was Pastor Yemi Osinbajo”.
He narrated further that “We don’t enjoy that luxury anymore as the President, Senate President, Speaker and his deputy; Senate and House Leaders; National Chairman and the Deputy National Chairman; Presidential and the Vice-Presidential candidates are all Muslims, leaving the Christians with just the position of VP Osibanjo and Deputy Senate President Omo-Agege at that level in a Country whose population is fairly split between Muslims and Christians”.
The former Speaker stressed further that, “Granted this scenario, can any God-fearing Muslim, Christian nay even the amoral and the atheist say this is fair, just and righteous? Does this represent the act of a just God? This is the real context of objections from the Christian community not just the Presidential ticket and the VP slot.
“For me, it is a rude awakening and I am so happy it happened sooner than later. The very fact that they said we should not worry about a Muslim-Muslim ticket while a Muslim-Christian ticket gave them sleepless nights should make you worry the more”, he stressed.
He added that, “To worry about a Muslim-Christian ticket while counselling others not to worry about a Muslim-Muslim ticket is the very textbook definition of cognitive dissonance and an attempt at gaslighting gullible Christians. Truth must be told that anyone who is not bringing us together is consciously tearing us apart”.
Yakubu Dogara also said that, “Furthermore, I do not want to speak to the argument that there is no Christian competent enough to be Vice-President because as we all know, that is hogwash. It only speaks to the need to deliberately exclude – whereas the need now is for inclusion”.
He then said that, “The other funny argument in the media is the claim that without a Northern Muslim on the ticket, elections cannot be won. The implications of that argument are quite unambiguous; Northern Muslims don’t vote for the South – even if the candidate is a Muslim like them – and, of course, don’t vote for Christians”.
He posited that, “However, nothing can be further from the truth. If you stretch this argument further, it may lead to questions such as, “if Muslims in the North don’t trust a Southern Muslim for any reason(s), why should Christians in Nigeria trust a Muslim from the South and North?” These are the kinds of arguments I hate to engage in and which we must avoid if we hope not to injure the health of our Republic”.
According to him, “Other unhelpful framings of the debate by the so-called pundits posits that Christians in the North are so small in number that their votes don’t count. This strange argument seeks to reinforce the satanic agenda of dividing the Church in Nigeria into North and South, and also ignores the fact and reality that Nigeria is evenly split on religious lines.
“These pundits are still not smart enough to tell us what is in the Muslim-Muslim ticket for southern Christians. The argument also ignores the fact that our official policy excludes religious affiliation from census data. There is therefore no scientific basis for these bizarre conclusions. Let us now look at a model for managing diversity”, he added.
According to the former Speaker, “If the UK offers any example, in 2005, the Tories had only two non-White MPs. Just within over a decade, this has changed dramatically – all the way to the top ranks of the party, including the last three Chancellors of the Exchequer in a row: Javid, Sunak and Zahawi. In addition, Patel was home secretary; Javid – health secretary; Kwasi – business secretary and; Zahawi – education secretary”.
In closing, he said that, “let me reiterate the fact that we are here to talk about what is right and what is wrong. To my mind, what is right is not just to win elections but to unite Nigerians both now and after the elections so that we can collectively build a Nigeria that works for all regardless of creed”.
He further said that, “As President Obama warned, “if you have to win a campaign by dividing people, you are not going to be able to govern them. You won’t be able to unite them later” This is spot-on because anyone who wins an election by dividing us would have to keep us divided in order to govern us. This is not what any reasonable and peace-loving Nigerian wants”.
