By Jubril Bada & Kayode Afolabi

Legal practitioners have faulted criticisms by some groups and individuals against the choice of former Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima as the running mate to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu over the Muslim/Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2023 general elections.

They said the criticism against the choice of the party’s running mate should not be based on  religion but on the legal perspective of his constitutional qualification for the position.

The lawyers stated this in separate interviews with The Hope yesterday.

Though, the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, House of Representatives Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila and some members of the party among others hailed Tinubu’s choice of Shettima, the Elder Stateman and South-South Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Mathew Kukah, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the Bishop of Calabar, Anglican Communion, Rev Nneji among others picked holes in APC’s Muslim/Muslim ticket.

The Chairperson of International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Ondo State branch, Mrs. Catherine Ogunjebi, explained that the Muslim/Muslim ticket of the APC can not lead to the Islamitization of the country if the party produced president come next year.

Ogunjebi further explained that the idea or notion to make the country practicing one religion would not be possible as decision must be reached constitutionally through passage into law by the National Assembly

The Chairperson, who allayed fear of agitation by people over possibility to Islamatize the country disagreed at the choosing of Muslim/Muslim or Christian/Christian ticket will favour one religion than other religion.

“In my own opinion, it will not be possible to Islamatize Nigeria merely because both presidential candidate and the vice presidential candidate of the APC are Muslims. For this be possible it must be passed into law by the National Assembly” she said.

On his part, a lawyer, Mr. Jayeola Okungade, pointed out that the practice of religion by presidential candidate and the running mate should not be a criterion for eligibility to contest for election in Nigeria

According to him “the provisions of Section 142 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended provides that once a presidential candidate nominates his running mate the candidate so nominated shall be deemed to have been duly elected to the Office of the vice president.

The provisions of the 1999 Constitution ,Section 10 categorically provides that the  government of the Federation of Nigeria or State shall not adopt any religion as state religion and clearly forbids the Islamization of Nigeria by the virtue of the religion practiced by the leadership of Nigeria.

“The law is clear again that Tinubu and Shettima’s APC 2023 Presidential ticket cannot confer Islam as an adopted State religion in Nigeria, flowing from the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution earlier cited here” he said.

Also, a legal practitioner, Mr. Tomisin Fajulugbe ,said there was nothing wrong with choice of Shettima as running mate of Tinubu, noting that the legal perspective of Shettima qualification for the position should be the bane of contention.

“Notwithstanding, the law has nothing against a Muslim- Muslim ticket, what the law is more concerned about is the eligibility and constitutionality of the running mate in question and not otherwise in the religious parlance.

“Nigeria as a country is too big to fall for that farce. Even before such happens, we might experience the inevitable, hence the calls for restructuring from various places” he noted.