By Samuel Olusegun Precious
Nigerians have flayed a muslim cleric, Sheikh Yahaya Jingir over his comments on the muslim-muslim presidential ticket for the 2027 General Election.
The Jos based cleric was quoted as saying the joint muslim ticket confirms religious supremacy and anyone against it should leave the country.
Jingir made the remarks during an event attended by some APC governors including Kano’s Abba Yusuf and Umar Namadi of Jigawa.
While praising President Bola Tinubu for the muslim-muslim ticket said: “Special thanks to my political hero, Bola Tinubu, who raised the flag of this political ideology. It’s a purely muslim-muslim coalition.”
One of the critics of the statement was a former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Daling, who condemned what he described as a distortion of democratic politics.
He disagreed with the comments by Sheikh Yahaya Jingir that the continued support for a Muslim-Muslim ticket proves Muslims are numerically superior to Christians.
Dalung warned that Nigeria is at risk of what he called “a dangerous form of religious majoritarianism” if political leadership becomes a contest over which faith has more followers.
The former minister made the statement on his verified Facebook wall yesterday, questioning the wisdom of reducing Nigeria’s complex political and socioeconomic problems to a religious headcount.
Another former minister of Aviation, and Nigeria’s Ambassador-designate to South Africa, Femi Fani-Kayode, described the statement as “highly provocative” and warned against what he described as extremist rhetoric.
Fani Kayode on his X account on Sunday said: “I have immense respect for Sheikh Jingir, but I am constrained to point out that the extremist rhetoric he has indulged in here is most unhelpful, and neither is it true.”
“Worse is the fact that it is highly provocative. Kindly take note that it is a very slippery and dangerous slope to take and is best avoided.”
Abuja based human rights lawyer, Deji Adeyanju also viewed Jingir’s comments as divisive and warned that religious rhetoric capable of setting Christians and Muslims against one another could deepen Nigeria’s existing divisions and threaten the country’s unity.
“I condemn the recent rhetoric of Sheikh Yahya Jingir as divisive and capable of fuelling religious tension in our beloved nation.
“Nigeria is a plural society, and our Constitution recognizes and protects that plurality. Religious leaders should respect Nigeria’s plurality and use their influence to promote peace and unity rather than sowing discord between Christians and Muslims,” Adeyanju said.
