Rabiu Kwankwaso, the vice presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2027 election, has expressed surprise that President Bola Tinubu has decided to maintain a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the next presidential election despite the controversy that trailed the arrangement in 2023.
Kwankwaso, speaking on Channels Television yesterday night claimed the issue will continue to be a key element in the next election.
Asked whether the issue of same faith ticket would still be a problem in 2027, the former governor of Kano State said, “It has to be.
Kwankwaso expressed surprise at the president’s decision, saying, “I am even surprised that the president again is presenting the same type of ticket and I know him, he is always somebody who likes to balance things.
“If you look at Lagos, he has always balanced it. His own house, the ticket is balanced. I don’t know why the ticket in Nigeria is not balanced. “But he still has a balanced ticket from here to the time of substitution.
Tinubu, a Muslim, picked former Borno State governor Kashim Shettima, also a Muslim, as his running mate on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
The decision sparked a heated controversy, with many Nigerians arguing it disrupted the religious balance needed for a country with nearly equal numbers of Muslims and Christians.
Tinubu went on to win the election but the controversy over the same-faith ticket has lingered, especially after the president recently said he will keep Shettima as his running partner for the 2027 election. Executive Branch
Kwankwaso, who fought the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), is now contesting as Peter Obi’s vice-presidential candidate under the NDC for the 2027 election.
“Time gave me a better understanding of Obi’s personality and leadership qualities,” Kwankwaso said, explaining his decision to team up with the former presidential candidate of the Labour Party.
“I think I know a lot more than I knew before the elections in 2023. Now I know Peter is a really serious politician.” He has his eye on this country. You can trust him and so on and so forth,” Kwankwaso said.
“It was easy for two men to agree, because they have similar ideas of how to move the country forward,” he added.
Speaking on why Nigerians should vote for the Obi-Kwankwaso ticket in 2027, the former governor said the duo had solutions to the myriad crises affecting the country especially insecurity.
“Our biggest problem today is security in the country. We could see that in the last several years, the insecurity, especially in the North-East, has extended to the North-West, North-Central; now it is moving into the southern half of the country, which is really bad.
“But as determined people that have enough energy, as people that are confident and of course capable of handling issues, we believe that the first issue we should tackle is the issue of insecurity in the country,” he stated.
He said apart from insecurity, he and Obi were resolved to tackle economic difficulties, crumbling infrastructure and the education sector emphasising that no nation could achieve genuine growth without investing in the education of its people.
He also refuted assertions that Obi lacks popularity in northern Nigeria and would not be able to get votes from the region, stating that the NDC presidential candidate is well-grounded in the North and has shown strong electoral strength in the region in past elections.
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