An Abuja based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Mohammed Idris has urged the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu to unite the country when elected.
“Tinubu must not repeat the mistake of President Muhammadu Buhari if he is elected in 2023. Nigeria is currently divided along religious and ethnic lines. His administration should reflect national unity through his appointments and body language.”
Idris stated this in a chat with newsmen on Monday evening in Abuja while reacting to the APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket.
He asked the candidate of the APC to do everything within his power to make sure that he calmed perceived frayed nerves across the country to a calm spirit where the citizens would be harmonious within themselves so that there would be an easy coexistence when elected.
He added that it was appalling that the citizens have been living a depressed life occasioned by hardship as if they were living in the decades past and have lost hope and are anxious about the future.
“Nigerians want to see a united country in 2023 where a Yoruba man would be president, Hausa/Fulani/Kanuri as his vice and an Igbo man as the Senate President and so on. We are praying for a Nigeria where an Ijaw or an Efik person would be competent enough to be the National Security Adviser. Tinubu should do everything within him to avoid lopsided appointments to give every Nigerian a sense of belonging.”
He further advised youths to shun leaders who wield religious sentiments and always ready to drag them into unnecessary conflicts but rather they should look for role models that can make them realize that they have a common destiny with the Nigerian nation.
“The pride of Nigeria is in its diversity and the new Nigeria must be one in which leaders employ the things that bind us together. There can be no greatness for Nigeria if every citizen of the country cannot feel at home whether they are in Kano, Ibadan, Calabar or Owerri. The onus to ensure that we have a country where every single Nigerian can proudly call home lies in the hands of the our youth’’