Ekiti state governor, Kayode Fayemi has explained that the decision for the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket by the All Progressives Congress (APC), was solely based on political strategy and not competence.
He stated this when he hosted the new executives of the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Ado-Ekiti on Friday.
According to Fayemi, the party should have engaged Christian leaders to explain the rationale for its same-faith ticket in order to secure their confidence.
“Even if they don’t agree with our choice, they would have seen the sincerity of purpose.”
“We have to look at scenarios and calculate where the votes would come from, it is a game of numbers.
“The decision was not on grounds of competence because we have competent Christians all over Nigeria but on grounds of strategic political moves,” he said.
Mr Fayemi said it was time Christians stopped their abhorrent disposition to politics.
“When serious Christians committed to the ideals of social justice and the common good turn away from politics, they open the door for unprincipled opportunists to take power.
“I think it is time for Christians to move away from the theology of disengagement — the notion that politics is dirty and that it is not for a child of God,” he added.
The governor enjoined the Christian leadership to use the current challenge as an opportunity to present a charter of demands to all political candidates, especially the APC, outlining the irreducible minimum conditions acceptable to Christians in the next political dispensation.
