Muslim-Christian ticket does not balance Nigeria – Reno Omokri

Reno Omokri, former President Goodluck Jonathan’s aide, has insisted that Nigeria should grow beyond religion.

Reno was reacting to trending political debate whether the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu should pick a Northern Muslim as his running mate.

Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State is one of those backing the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket.

According to el-Rufai, ““It was Pastor Tunde Bakare, a pentecostal pastor, who took me to CPC, not President Muhammadu Buhari. I’m very close to Pastor Bakare. I’m very close to many Christians. I don’t think the business of governance has to do with religion. I think we should look for the best person for the job. The person who will get the job done.

“I’m the wrong person to ask that question because in my state I picked a very competent and qualified woman as my running mate in the 2019 elections. But just because she happens to be a Muslim, people were calling it Muslim-Muslim ticket and they said we are going to lose. We didn’t. We won overwhelmingly.”

Reacting on Twitter on Saturday, Omokri said the former Head of State, Gen Yakubu Gowon and his vice Vice-Admiral Joseph Edet Wey are Christians and were loved by the core North.

Omokri tweeted, “Unknown to many Nigerians both Gowon and his vice (Admiral Wey) are Christians. Yet, they were loved in the core Muslim North, because they provided peace, security and progress. They proved that if Nigerians see a performing government, they will forget religion!

“Having a Muslim-Christian ticket does not balance Nigeria. The government we have now is Muslim-Christian. Look at how imbalanced Nigeria is. Did Osinbajo represent or protect Christians well? What Nigeria needs is a reliable government, not a religious government!”