By David Kabiyesi
Cross sections of political analysts have continue to shower encomium on the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and Vice President Kashim Shettima over it’s resolve to back a consensus Christian Senate president and Speaker of House of Reps.
The party arose from it’s nocturnal meetings on Sunday with the Vice President stressing that Nigeria cannot afford to have another Muslims as leaders of Senate and Reps when the Presideny and his vice are Muslims.
A top political analysts, Innocent Samiyu described such decision is a right step in the right direction, pointing out that the collective interest of the nation should remain paramount.
” That is what we have been advocating for, the decision to have a Christian Speaker and Senate will help balance power,” he said
Speaking at a dinner with lawmakers in Abuja, Vice-President Kashim Shettima, said the ruling party finally came up with a consensus ticket of Senator GodsWill Akpabio as Senate President and Jibrin Barau as Deputy in the interest of the stability of the country after two aspirants for the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aliyu Betara and Yusuf Gagdi, stepped down.“Here we are with a Muslim president and a Muslim vice president in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious polity like ours. I was a child of circumstance.
“Equity, justice, and fairness demand that the number three citizen of this country should be of the Christian faith. What binds us together supersedes whatever divides us. But most importantly, we should make deliberate efforts to take inclusivity in governance.”
“This is a young nation where every community will like to have fair representation on the dinner table of their kinsmen.
“Politics is about perception, politics is about optics. I want to appeal to you, I want to appeal to your conscience. There is stability and inclusivity and togetherness in this nation that supersedes the depth of our pockets, stability of our pockets.
“Under the current dispensation, the worst, the most incompetent southern Christian is better than the most puritanical northern Muslim for the presidency of the Senate. We are talking about the sustainability of the nation; the nation is at a crossroads.”Senator Shettima said
