I MADE myself very unpopular earlier on this week by (unintentionally!) antagonising several members of no less than three important sections of the Nigerian population!

Charles Aniagolu, the distinguished international broadcaster, invited me onto PRIME TIME, his new ARISE TV show (you can catch it at 8pm on weekdays), to comment on current affairs issues.

I appeared on Tuesday, alongside veteran journalist, Waziri Adio; and our conversation inevitably turned to the hottest topic of the week – Bola AhmedTinubu’s controversial decision to choose Kashim Shettima, a fellow Muslim from the North, as his running mate.

Read Also: Selfish Northern govs pushed Tinubu into same-faith ticket — Sheni, Northern APC Christian leader

In a country where religion, ethnicity and zoning are very big deals indeed – neurotic national obsessions, if truth be told – the Southern presidential flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress, APC, the ruling party he helped to found, is being widely berated for ditching a “ticket-balancing” democratic convention that has prevailed for a couple of decades and not going for a Northern Christian deputy.

In screaming headline after screaming headline, fury has been expressed. Every single Christian organisation in Nigeria is up in arms. Some Christian members of the APC are so upset that they’ve resigned, while others have sworn that they won’t campaign for Tinubu, whom they now regard as a shameless Islamic bigot.

Commentator after commentator, including some objective Muslims who believe in power-sharing for ideological or pragmatic reasons, has declared that Tinubu has shot himself in the foot, sabotaged his lifelong ambition and should definitely prepare for defeat.

And the row is far from over. It will blaze on until election day.

OK so Charles asked me what I thought of this storm of protest; and I said that while I regard Tinubu’s decision as unfortunate, sycophantic (as in a bid to please Buhari) and insulting to Northern Christians, I can’t summon up outrage about this particular Muslim-Muslim ticket because one of the Muslims happens to be Yoruba.

I added that I have many Yoruba Muslim friends (including the delightful Waziri Adio who was sitting next to me) and they are all perfectly reasonable and moderate human beings.

Come and see trouble o!

Some Northern Muslims felt that I was implying that it is only Northern Muslims who are an obstacle to Nigeria’s unity and hinting that all Northern Muslims are unreasonable and fanatical.

Some Yoruba Muslims, meanwhile, felt that I’d paid them a backhanded compliment. It was, they say, as if I only regard them as acceptable because I see them as quasi-Christians who are nowhere near as serious about Islam as their Northern counterparts.

Then there were Christians who accused me of treacherously letting Tinubu off the hook and undermining the Christian struggle to be heard, properly represented and socio-economically and politically empowered in a deeply divided Muslim-dominated country.

I’ve been reminded in very forceful terms by some pals, relatives and strangers that bishops from my own church (Catholic) have condemned Tinubu, so why should I break rank and give the world the impression that he has not committed a major infraction?

My response to all of the above is that I didn’t intend to offend anyone and am close to quite a few jolly decent Northern Muslims.

But, let’s face it: Yoruba Muslims ARE more liberal on the whole, not least because many of them have Christian spouses and family members. Tinubu himself is happily married to a Pentecostal pastor.

Can you imagine a Northern Muslim politician entering into a “mixed” marriage, not requiring his wife to convert and allowing her to freely pursue her own totally different spiritual preferences?

The Bottom Line is that I don’t think my attitude is inappropriate and I agree with Punch columnist, Abimbola Adelakun, who says:

“Why waste time and emotions on the insularity of the APC ticket when the issues that will ultimately affect everyone—Christians, Muslims, African Traditional Religionists, atheists, agnostics, and every other faith or non-faith—are already staring us in the face?

“The APC team’s weak spot is not religion. Obsessing about religion will let them get away with what truly disqualifies them, which is their awful record of leadership. It is the case against them, and it speaks louder than whatever God they believe in.”

Meanwhile, Tinubu is telling anyone who will listen that he selected Shettima for entirely noble reasons and is convinced that Shettima possesses “talent, maturity, strength of character and patriotism”.

We are assured that Shettima will be a valuable member of a strong team that will “re-envision and reshape the nation and…forever establish just, capable and compassionate governance for the people of Nigeria without regard to religion, region or ethnic origin.”

Asiwaju dares not cut the c—p and be honest with us and admit:

a) that he has succumbed to bullying from Northern Muslim irredentists; and b) that he is also motivated by cynical mathematical calculations based on (inaccurate, if you ask me) claims that there are more people in the North and more votes to be had up there.  

But we all know the score; and since I don’t want him to win, I am glad he has made this move that has cost him so much support.

Tinubu’s generosity

The list of Tinubu’s weaknesses and mistakes is a very long one. But he also has strengths and I feel that I must highlight one of the characteristics that draws some folks to him: His generosity.

Most politicians I’ve encountered are ruthless use-and-dump experts who neglect and shortchange those who have stood by them. Some even go out of their way to ignore and humiliate people who enabled them to become big boys and girls in the first place.

But I don’t know a single person who has worked for Tinubu or assisted him and wound up destitute.

Yes, the source of the patronage Tinubu dishes out is questionable. Yes, we should aim for a country in which politicians cannot corruptly capture state resources and redistribute them whimsically.

Yes, I pray for a cleansed society in which basic human rights are available to all citizens…and not just to those a VIP knows personally or those s/he likes or those who have served him or her loyally.

But I still salute Tinubu’s magnanimous streak because many, many other politicians also enrich themselves dubiously without sharing a dime with those to whom they owe goodwill and practical help.

At least Tinubu knows the meaning of gratitude and does not selfishly sit back and watch those around him drowning!

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