Senator Submits Bill To Ban Same Faith Presidential Ticket

Following the choice of a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Smart Adeyemi has submitted a bill to the Senate for an amendment to Section 84 of the 2022 Electoral Act to prevent nomination of same faith presidential and vice-presidential candidates by political parties in the future.

It is observed that APC Muslim-Muslim ticket generated massive negative reaction from the Christian faithful across the country, and even threatened to sink the aspiration of the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in the next general election on the grounds it failed to balance the religious diversity of the country.

The APC Senator from Kogi State, who presented the draft copy of the amendment bill, however, threw his weight behind the APC presidential candidate, despite a Muslim-Muslim ticket with his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima.

The senator said, “Section 84 of the Principal Act will be amended by inserting a new subsection 3 which will state thus: ‘No political party shall nominate candidates of the same religion as presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate after the 2023 election.

“When this is accommodated, it will serve as a guide against any oversight such as this in the future as further occurrences will be deemed as a silent policy which is capable of bringing down the fabrics of the nation.”