More than 10,000 Nigerian Christians staged a protest in the African nation’s capital against an all-Muslim presidential ticket for Nigeria’s ruling party, expressing concerns over religious tolerance.
The protest took place in Abuja on July 15, with a major issue being the Muslim-Muslim ticket created by Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the candidate for the All Progressives Congress party. President Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani Muslim, is term-limited and can’t seek another term. His vice president is Yemi Osinbajo, a Christian.
Tinubu, a Muslim and the former governor of Lagos state, has garnered controversy for having fellow Muslim Kashim Shettima, the former governor of Borno state, as his running mate for the next presidential election scheduled for February 2023.
Demonstrators marched on the Presidential Villa and submitted a letter of protest to Nigeria’s federal government, according to the Abuja-based Daily Post Nigeria.
The protest was led by the All Christians Community of Northern Nigeria, whose leader, Moses Adams, told the Daily Post that the lack of a Christian vice presidential candidate on the ticket was “unacceptable and a recipe for creating sharp divides between the Muslims and the Christians in the country.”
