Nigeria’s corporate existence is reliant on the peaceful co-existence of people of different ethnicities and religions. APC’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket and ‘win’ have broken decades of political and ethical convention regarding party ticketing, and threatens Nigeria’s ‘delicate balance’.
Religion has been a recurring theme in party politics and elections in Nigeria. The 2023 general election was no different. The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) chose to field a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket—a decision that had precipitated religious anxiety in the polity and threatened to upset Nigeria’s ‘delicate balance’. Before the presidential election, Olu Fasan, a political economist, writer and analyst, had argued in Vanguard that APC’s same-religion ticket was an affront against Christian faithfuls who constitute a significant voting bloc in the South. I will go even further to submit that APC’s same-faith ticket, which ‘won’ under INEC's massive logistics and technical issues, portends a likely implosion and could be interpreted as a religious war against other religious groups in Nigeria. With such an unpopular ‘win’ at the presidential poll, consequences could be dire for the country and Nigerians at home and abroad.
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