TheCable

Festus Keyamo, minister of state, labour and employment, says Nigerians should not allow clerics of any faith to influence their voting pattern in the 2023 presidential election.

Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had, on Sunday, announced Kashim Shettima, former Borno governor, as his running mate for the 2023 elections.

The announcement came shortly after Ibrahim Masari stepped down as the “placeholder” running mate of Tinubu.

The Muslim-Muslim ticket had elicited criticism from some Nigerians who described it as an injustice to the Christian community. 

Following the announcement, Keyamo had described Shetima as the “perfect” running mate for Tinubu.

However, Babachir Lawal, former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), criticised the decision, saying it was a “disastrous error and grave injustice”.

However, in a series of tweets on Wednesday, Keyamo asked Nigerians to shun religious sentiments and be focused on performance when voting in 2023.

“No one should deceive us, as ordinary Nigerians, be it a pastor or Imam, to vote or not to vote for anyone based on the religious colouration of the ticket,” Keyamo tweeted.

“Let the debate begin as to the PERFORMANCE of Bola Yinubu as Gov. of Lagos State and not the issue of same faith ticket.”

A famous quote: ‘Are you Hindu, muslim or Christian?’ And a young girl replied, ‘I am hungry!’ As the elites selfishly try to smuggle religion into politics, ordinary citizens just need good governance. We must steer the country towards the part of making HUMANITY our religion!

— Festus Keyamo, SAN (@fkeyamo) July 12, 2022

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No one should deceive us, as ordinary Nigerians, be it a pastor or Imam, to vote or not to vote for anyone based on the religious colouration of the ticket. Let the debate begin as to the PERFORMANCE of @officialABAT as Gov. of Lagos State and not the issue of same faith ticket

— Festus Keyamo, SAN (@fkeyamo) July 12, 2022