Governor Hope Uzodimma Imo State has waded into the controversial Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket debate, noting that the role of numbers outweighs that of faith in elections.
Premium Politics reported that there have been calls from different angles for political parties to shun flying a Muslim-Muslim ticket in the forthcoming presidential election.
Uzodimma’s response comes ahead of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s June 17 deadline for political parties to submit their list of candidates for — president, vice-president, senate and house of representatives — ahead of the 2023 general election.
Speaking to newsmen on Tuesday, Uzodimma said “spread is very important to be able to attract votes.
“Spread is very important to be able to attract votes. So the decision of who becomes your running mate, if I were the candidate, what will inform it is what will I do as an action that will enable me to get the kind of votes I’m looking for because the ultimate goal is to win the election,” he said.
“So maybe I’ll start from the nomination, ethnicity, or followership. In this business of democracy, I think the number is what is very important. And there are certain things as a nation, we should not bring to the public discourse, those things that are capable of creating divisiveness against national unity should not be encouraged.
“It does not mean that I will not remember that I come from a place but I must also be cautious and careful how to use where I come from in taking national decisions. That is very important.
“We are looking for united Nigeria, where governance will be the issue, where a president would be adjudged by his capacity to deliver democratic dividends, develop Nigeria to look like other parts of the western world where democracy is working,” he said.
“I don’t want us to reduce governance in Nigeria to certain things that will encourage divisiveness, rather, we should be a united Nigeria, be our brother’s keepers, have a president of Nigeria that will be a president representing every tribe, every religion, every denomination. And when we get there, we will cross the bridge.”
