Femi Fani-Kayode, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has defended the same faith ticket of the party, insisting it is the choice of the presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
Admitting that no real Christian would be pleased with such selection, the former PDP stalwart said he had prayed about it and that there was nothing wrong with the choice.
Fani-Kayode, who had before now spoken against the APC and Tinubu and even went ahead on many occasions to accuse the ruling party of plotting to islamize the country, said he was only against the APC because he was in the opposition PDP.
Appearing on Channels Television, Fani-Kayode said that when he joined APC, he discovered that many things have changed and that even the issue of fulanization had been thrown out of the window by the emergence of Bola Tinubu as the presidential candidate of the APC.
The APC chieftain also defended Kashim Shettima, the vice presidential candidate of the APC, saying that the former Borno State Governor had built more churches in the State than any other governor before him.
“My choice to speak for APC and Tinubu has nothing to do with morals. It’s a question of choice. It’s my choice. When I was in the PDP, I fought against those that were against my party. Now I’m no longer in the PDP and I’m in the APC, I’ll fight against those that are against my party,” Fani-Kayode said.
“That is my nature and I make these choices based on conviction and based on courage. The most important thing…the greatest danger to national unity and cohesion as far as I’m concerned…is a situation whereby power does not shift to the South after eight years of the Hausa/Fulani man ruling this country.
“And the APC has come up with a Southern candidate and that’s the most important thing. Now the choices that the Southern candidate makes are the choice he is comfortable with.
“Obviously, there are issues with the same faith ticket. There are issues with that. Any Christian that will tell you he is particularly happy with that then seriously speaking cannot be a real Christian.
“But as far as I’m concerned, it’s simply an issue of choice. The issue of Fulanization we talked about has been thrown out of the window because the party we accused of that has shifted power to the South. When I joined the APC, I realized that things have completely changed.
“A country where we have about 22 Christian governors, with the whole of South West all Christian Governors, tells you that this country cannot be Islamised and out party, the APC is not interested in that. We have reformed. We are moving forward.
“Same faith ticket is a challenge but we looked into it, I prayed and consulted about it and spoke to Kashim because all along the position has been it all depends on who’s the vice. It’s not about the faith. It’s about the individual. I discussed with Shettima for over three hours.
“I looked into his eyes and raised a number of personal questions that I needed to be certified and he certified me with his answers. He has built more churches in Borno than any other governor before him and since he has won the confidence of many Christians, so the issue of Islamization no longer arises.”