As campaign activities for the 2027 general elections get underway, clerics and politicians have quickly resorted to old rhetoric and tricks to mobilise support for their candidates.
As campaign activities for the 2027 general elections get underway, clerics and politicians have quickly resorted to old rhetoric and tricks to mobilise support for their candidates.
The presidential candidate of the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, was trying to put the personal records of President Bola Tinubu and the religious composition of his ticket on the front burner of the campaigns, before reopening the debate about fuel subsidy.
In a recent interview with JKD Media, Atiku recounted how he refused to nominate Mr Tinubu as his running mate under the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2007 because he opposed a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
He also recounted taking the same position in 2015, when former President Muhammadu Buhari was considering selecting Mr Tinubu as his running mate.
In the interview anchored by Yusuf Mamman, Atiku asserted a firm position on the issue.
“I don’t believe in a Muslim-Muslim ticket because it does not bode well for the country,” he said.
However, Atiku acknowledged an unsuccessful bid to become the running mate to M.K.O. Abiola in 1993, who eventually picked Babagana Kingibe, a fellow Muslim. Had Abiola selected Atiku instead, as demanded by the Shehu Yar’Adua camp to which Atiku belonged, it would also have been a same-faith ticket.
Political analysts view Atiku’s rhetoric as a deliberate political framing designed to capitalise on current religious sentiments.
In Nigeria, the selection of presidential and vice-presidential candidates had been driven primarily by political calculations.
For instance, in the 1979 presidential election, Nnamdi Azikiwe, the candidate of the Nigerian People’s Party (NPP), chose fellow Christian Ishaya Audu as his running mate. Mr Audu, a physician from Kaduna State, was a former Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Similarly, Obafemi Awolowo, contesting under the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in the same election, selected Philip Umeadi, a Christian from Anambra State, as his running mate.
Before then, under military rule, Joseph Wey served as Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters – a position considered equivalent to vice president- for nine years in the Yakubu Gowon regime. Both men were Christians.
Also, Mr Buhari had Tunde Idiagbon, a fellow Muslim, as his deputy in their military government of December 1983 to August 1985.
Two clerics have been vocal about framing the 2027 elections as a demographic contest between Nigeria’s two dominant faiths.
Jos-based clerics Sani Jingir and Ezekiel Dachamo face severe backlash for their public postures on the forthcoming polls.
Mr Jingir, a strident promoter of the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 2023 presidential election, recently reiterated his stance at a mass wedding organised by the Kano State Government for 1,500 couples.
Speaking in Hausa, the Islamic cleric said:
“I am one of those who raise the flag of Islam; I am calling on people to come and let us do Muslim-Muslim again. I know this statement pains the non-Muslims; there are Christians and other religious groups.
“I didn’t stop them from doing their campaigns, calling for Christian-Christian tickets. In a democracy, the majority carries the vote,” Mr Jingir said.
“I am a Muslim who preaches Islam. If I say Muslim-Muslim, what have I taken away from them?” he added.
He urged Muslims to register and vote in large numbers, arguing that the election outcome would demonstrate their demographic dominance in the country.
“Let us show the world that those non-Muslims who claim they outnumber us in Nigeria are lying. When the votes were counted in 2023, Allah helped us and defeated them; they even came in third position,” he stated, referring to Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, who himself was caught in an audio recording framing the poll as a religious war.
Mr Jingir is a factional leader of Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa Iqamatis Sunnah (Izala), a reformist Salafi movement founded in Jos in the 1970s. The sect promotes a puritanical interpretation of the Quran and Hadith.
However, his deputy, Yusuf Sambo, is reportedly backing Atiku.
Mr Sambo retorted that Nigeria needs a leader who will treat all faiths and groups with fairness and justice, citing other clerics who disagree with Mr Jingir.
Mr Jingir’s supporters defended his controversial comments in Kano by juxtaposing them with those of Mr Dachomo, a Christian preacher.
A video captured Mr Dachomo describing killings by bandits in Plateau State as a direct consequence of Nigerians electing Muslims as president and vice president.
“We must be very careful with the issue of a Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 2027 election.
“When it comes to the state level, God will show us what to do. However, at the federal level, we will demonstrate that we are the majority, as per the Nigerian census. This is what will happen.
