2023 Election: Don’t allow religion to divide us, Sanwo-olu urges Nigerians

Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has urged Nigerians not to allow religious division, especially in respect to the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket for the presidential poll.

Sanwo-Olu gave the advice on Thursday in Ikoyi, at the 96th Anniversary Lecture of the Yoruba Tennis Club, with the topic: “Social Club and the Search for National Cohesion”.

He said that electing the next President of Nigeria should be about leadership, character, audacity to think and ability to think deep and solve problems.

According to him, the election of the right persons is not about religion, as there is nothing in the issue of a Muslim-Muslim Ticket of the APC Presidential candidacy.

“I am a Christian and my wife is a Christian, but we know too well that it is not about religion.

“We have forgotten that in 2011, when Action Congress at that time gave a platform to Malam Nuhu Ribadu and his vice-presidential candidate then was Mr Fola Adeola.

“It was a joint Muslim-Muslim ticket, and we did not see any problem at that time.

“But suddenly, because there is a likelihood of this ticket emerging as a winner, people now want to divide us. We will say no because that is not who we are.

“It is about leadership. It is about character. It is about audacity to think. It is about the ability to be able to think deep and solve problems.

“We do not want to despair other candidates. We all know too well what their antecedents are. We all know too what their credentials are. But we know that as a nation, we need a strong launch pad. We need to think out of the box and be able to put our best foot forward,” he said.

The governor commended the leadership of the Yoruba Tennis Club for making the right choice of inviting the APC Vice Presidential candidate, Sen. Kashim Shettima as the guest speaker.

“We are celebrating 96 years now and let it be on record that by 2026 during our centenary celebration, by the grace of God, we will have Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu coming here to celebrate as President on our centenary.

“By your grace and your support, I will still remain as your 15th Governor, coming here and celebrate in four years time and all of you will be here.

“We deserve the presidency. In Lagos we deserve it. Lagos requires it and it would be by the grace of God a bigger, better and stronger nation and state that all of you would be truly proud of to have been part of,” he said.

While delivering his lecture, the Vice Presidential candidate of the APC, Sen. Kashim Shettima, said that there had been so much talk about the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the party.

Shettima said that Sen. Tinubu is a Muslim, but his wife is not only a Christian, but a senior pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God as well.

“Some of Asiwaju’s children are Christians. How can you convince someone that Asiwaju is going to Islamise Nigeria when he did not Islamise his own family?,” he said.