Religious gangsterism against Tinubu, won’t win 2023 presidency for opposition – Onoh

Dr Josef Onoh, the Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) Presidential Spokesman in the South East has said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate is in the best position to win next year’s presidential election than the Labour Party (LP) P\presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate counterpart, Atiku Abubakar because Tinubu is not as religiously inclined such as the opposition presidential candidates do.

Specifically, Onoh accused Obi of having visited all the churches in Nigeria and even in the diaspora, relying on the strength of religiosity more than the APC candidate to win the presidential election of February 25 2023.

According to Onoh, religion should not be a yardstick for measuring the 2023 presidential election, particularly, when the opposition has relied heavily on their touted Muslim/Muslim ticket of the APC, while overlooking their deeper religious hypocrisy.

He said that if it was Tinubu who had visited all the mosques in Nigeria, the opposition would have been very furious, shouting ‘Islamaiztion agenda’ but failed to see the ‘Christianization of Nigeria’ in the opposition’s malodorous politicking.

“So, why do we have double standards? Why do we deceive ourselves by cutting standards? In order words, it’s not about Muslim/Muslim tickets after all, but a gimmick by the old brigade to discredit Tinubu. These are desperate politicians who want to use religion to discredit opponents. What I am saying is that we should think out of the box. The so-called Muslim/Muslim has only offered them the conducive excuse to continue to exploit the gullibility of some Nigerians.”

Onoh also faulted the opposition on its Chatham House critique, stating that Tinubu was misrepresented by inferring that he encouraged political violence at an after-event function, noting that Asiwaju was realistic in espousing the obvious that power is negotiated and taken.

He said that power negotiation has not much to do with religion, regretting that it was unfortunate politics has been religionised by pretenders who want power by all means, instead on leaving it in the hands of practical politicians with nationalistic traits.

“So we should look beyond religion in the Tinubu/Shettima presidency and stop deceiving ourselves when we cannot apply the religious faultiness in our various states, otherwise why should we have Christian/Christian governors or Muslim/Muslim governors in our states? Governor El-Rufai has not Islamized Kaduna state, nor has any of his Christian counterparts.

“There are more Christian governors with Christian deputies than there are Muslim Governors with Muslim Deputies in Nigeria, but that has not been made a campaign issue by the Muslims. The choice of Kashim Shettima as Asiwaju’s running mate was because of his service delivery track record and never had anything to do with religious inclination.

“The major factors that contributed to the choice of Senator Shettima are the plethora of mindboggling achievements that the senator had garnered in his eight years as Borno State governor; the selfless manner he spearheaded an excellent change of baton of leadership, which brought current Governor Babagana Zulum to power and which has has turned out to be an exceptional pick, an icing on the cake. The third is the heart and unparalleled courage he had shown; he stood his ground and refused to flee despite legitimate reasons to and the sincerity of his leadership in the face of all the dangers. Kashim Shettima passed through a moment when the North was looking for a hero, took advantage of it, and played his cards very well.

“The way he sidelined his closest political and kinship sidekicks whose loyalty and the friendship he had cultivated since childhood, and each of whom was sure to be a perfect stooge and went for the best man for the job had unsettled the usual dynamics in Nigerian politics. He literally poached Zulum from his teaching job at the University, appointed him Rector of a Polytechnic, made him a commissioner, assigned him very difficult and risky jobs, studied his commitment, transparency, courage and competence, and finally mentored him to become governor even when he knew that the man he picked was not going to take orders from him.

“In Nigeria, this uncommon sense of duty was unprecedented and I’m happy that Bishop Hassan Kukah has told people to look beyond religion in the choice of their candidates, yet the irredentists have remained obstinate to a fault,” Onoh argued.

He stated that none of the opposition presidential candidates had ever left their comfort zones in defence of Nigeria democracy, but had instead exploited the achievements of democrats such as Tinubu to mount the rostrum and point accusing fingers at one of the pillars of democracy in Nigeria.

Quoting the Holy Bible, Onoh said that 1 Corinthians 3:14 said ‘If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive reward,’ stressing that Tinubu contributed in the fight for democracy and should be rewarded with democratic votes on February 25 2023.

He said he was more disappointed in the inability of the opposition to the Tinubu presidency in providing security for their subjects both in southern and northern Nigeria, particularly in the south east where insecurity has escalated in the recent time.    

“The south east and most disgracefully the Ohanaeze Ndigbo would have played the role of wisdom during their endorsement of the Labour Party presidential candidate; they would have given their support for a southern candidate for presidency first before adoption of the Labour Party presidential candidate. Assuming he fails, what will be their backup plan? Sadly, they will sink into lamentations as usual after casting all their eggs in one basket. They are all scared of boldly criticising the activities of IPOB or criminals masquerading as IPOB.

“The south east is currently being terrorised with five days sit-at-home declaration by characters the same Labour Party presidential candidate claims he interacts with everyday yet he has failed to interact with them this festive period to let the south east be in peace so that the poor masses can go out and fend for their families ahead of Christmas. He failed to guarantee their security while his online hatchets roam freely on social media, raiding insults on people who exercise their fundamental rights of association who don’t support their candidate. The southeast is on lockdown. Isn’t such a leader worse than the Muslim/Muslim ticket he condemns?

“I tell South East that it’s time to wake up. If you have yielded to the commands of these terrorist, then how can you come out to cast your votes come 2023? This is clearly a case of being eaten by the tiger. One was riding while it ate others, and it’s now the time to eat the rider. The naira has Arabic inscription even while it was the British pounds. It didn’t stop the Christian or Muslims from its usage, and it provided what you paid for. My point is that service is more important than ascetic,” Onoh said.

He described as unfortunate a situation where the presumed political elites and greatest beneficiaries of the APC led-government in the south east have all kept quiet and none have come out boldly in defence of Tinubu except from Senator Chimaroke Nnamani, Governor Chukwuma Soludo, whom Onoh said has put the future interest of his state ahead of personal sentiments; Governors Dave Umahi of Ebonyi state, Hope Uzodinma of Imo state yet not one single APC candidate in the south east has boldly come out in support or campaign for Asiwaju.

“Others are only waiting like vultures to feed on the kill, yet they didn’t participate in the hunt, but only emerge once food is ready.”