A political associate of ex-president Muhammadu Buhari, AbdulMajid Danbilki Kwamanda, has thrown his weight behind assertions by Vice President Kashim Shettima, that the president of the 10th Senate should be a Christian.
The Vice President had over the weekend argued that a Christian should be elected as the Senate President to avoid a situation in which the leaders of the executive and legislative branches of government are all Muslims.
The chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Kano, said Shettima’s comment was in tandem with inclusive democracy.
He maintained that those attacking the Vice President over the comment were deliberately doing so to heat up the polity.
Kwamanda,, in a statement he made available to journalists in Kano , Tuesday night, warned that Nigeria is not owned and controlled by a particular religion or tribe.
Kwamanda who is the Chairman of the Arewa Media Group, said, “the Vice President was explaining that it will only be a principle of fair play, if after having a President who is a Muslim, and himself as as Vice President, a Muslim, it is better to have a Senate President from a Christian background , and from the Southern part of the country, to balance the equation.”
Kwamanda expressed dismay over comments opposing the Vice President’s position, particularly, from the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) presidential candidate, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso supporters.
According to him, their utterances are capable of creating bad blood between Muslims and Christians in the country.
He recalled that , “Kashim Shettima was a two-term Governor of the metropolitan Borno State where there is a large number of Indigenous Christians, and there was never a time he did or talk bad against them because he ensured that their rights were fully protected.
“Those who are distorting the Vice President’s remarks do only read headlines of the news stories, without grabbing the real meaning in the content, because they are up for mischief. They are turning everything upside down, giving it different narrations.”
He added that, “I agree and align myself with the Vice President’s remarks that it will be fair if a Southerner becomes the 10th Senate President because you cannot have a Muslim President, a Muslim Vice President, a Muslim Speaker of the House of Representatives; and you now have a Senate President also a Muslim. This will only confirm the allegations of Islamization of the country.”
