Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, has noted that the opposition to Muslim-Muslim tickets in 2023 is not necessary. According to him, competence, capacity, and capability in terms of delivering good governance to Nigerians should be placed ahead of religion.
The Kaduna governor who was the first governor in the state to pick a fellow Muslim as running mate in 2019, spoke on Channels TV Politics today on Friday.
Maintaining that he doesn’t believe that the business of governance has to do with religion, el-Rufai advised the nation to rather look for the best person for the job instead of placing religious sentiment ahead of competence.
“I think we should look for the best person for the job, the person that will get the job done, and get him to do that,” he said.
The governor said he doesn’t look at people from the lens of being a Muslim or Christian.
“Some of my closest friends are Christians. Pastor Tunde Bakare is a Pentecostal pastor. He was the one that took me to CPC, not the President who is a Muslim while I’m very close to Pastor Bakare. I’m very close to many Christians.
“I don’t think that the business of governance has to do with religion. I’m the wrong person to be asked such a question because, in my state, I picked a very competent, qualified woman as my running mate in the 2019 elections.
“But just because she happens to be a Muslim, people are calling it Muslim/Muslim ticket and they said we’re going to lose, but we won overwhelmingly. This fixation of Nigerians with religion instead of competence, capacity, and capability is quite sad and pathetic,” he added.
The governor urged the media to take religion out of governance, while the nation looks for someone competent and has the capacity capability to deliver.
“We want to develop this country. When I get into a plane I don’t ask for the religion of the pilot, when I go to the hospital, I don’t ask for the religion of the doctor. When boarding a plane, I just want to get to my destination accurately.”
He stressed that “the way the media and many irresponsible people try to inject religion in politics and governance is sad and pathetic.
