‘Unknown Bishops’ – Reactions Trail Shettima Unveiling
Amidst the ‘Muslim-Muslim ticket’ controversy surrounding the choice of running mate of APC’s Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress has officially unveiled Senator kashim Shettima, a two-time Governor of Borno State and Senator representing Borno Central, as the Vice-Presidential Candidate of the party for the 2023 Presidential Elections.
The official unveiling, which took place on Wednesday, 20 July, 2022, at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, had in attendance party faithfuls, including governors, party officials, federal law makers, and Bishops. The presence of Bishops at the official unveiling particularly caught the attention of many Nigerians who have taken to social media to describe the Bishops as ‘Unknown Bishops’.
From the pictures and videos that surfaced online, other reactions have been seen among these social media users who alleged that the bishops were not truly men of God but people who have been paid by the All Progressives Congress to create the impression of support and presence of Christians at the formal unveiling.
In another development, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has dissociated itself from the unveiling of the APC’s Vice-Presidential Candidate, having described the Bishops present at the official unveiling as “unknown clerics”. In a statement by its General Secretary, Joseph Daramola, in Abuja, on Thursday, titled, Stop impersonating us, CAN tells politicians, CAN has clarified that they were not part of the unveiling.
He said, “we are shocked, disappointed and worried about the desperation of some politicians who once claimed Christians do not matter in governance and politics but went to hire some unknown ‘bishops, pastors and priests’ to impersonate the leadership of CAN in their political meeting.
“This is totally unacceptable, reprehensible, unprecedented and ungodly. If they are saying Christians have no electoral values, why impersonating them in their meetings? We are throwing their principals and sponsors into the court of conscience.”
Also, Bishop Anthony, one of the clerics alleged to have attended the unveiling, emphatically disclosed in an interview with journalists that the picture which surfaced online was taken during a visit to Maiduguri in November, 2017, and not at the unveiling.
He said, “APC is not sensitive, how can you do that? In a secular society like ours, a ruling government benefitting from the democratic dividends, how can you cut the tree on which you are standing and you expect not to fall? If APC is promoting religious sentiments in this country, then how can the APC stand? Because they know that cannot work.
“How can the APC tell the whole Nigeria that none of the Christians in their rank is competent to be a running mate to their flagbearer? That itself says it all that there is a hidden agenda about this.”
These allegations elicit questions on the level of integrity of members of the political class and one is, for how long will religious sentiments continue to be a subject of concern and chaos in a secular state like Nigeria?
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