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Tari Ogbowei Content Writer and cont... @ TwoCents
city Yenagoa, Nigeria
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In Politics 2 min read
Politics, Religion and Shenanigans.
I've always been of the opinion that the 2023 general elections is gonna be the most interesting we've had yet and there's already evidence to prove this. Nigeria prides itself as being the most populous black nation on the surface of the earth with a population of over 200 million, approximately half being Muslim and the other half, Christian and the remaining few, practising other religions. It goes without gainsaying that religion is going to be a huge factor when decisions on issues of national importance are made. As a result, a quota system was adopted in almost every area of national life to keep things fair between the Muslim dominated North and the Christian dominated South and the presidency is not left out. There's this widely known gentleman's agreement not to have same religion in the presidency at once. When there's a Muslim president, there must be a Christian Vice President and vice versa. Also if there's a Muslim president, it is expected that the next president should be a Christian. The current President, Buhari, whose tenure ends next year, 2023 is from the Muslim North and it is expected that the next president should be a Christian from the South based on the gentleman's agreement otherwise called zoning. Knowing this, I'd have expected that parties should have accepted only Southerners or Christians as contestants in their primaries election as President Buhari is about completing his second term in office and it is expected that power should shift to the South. Rather, it was free for all and in an unexpected twist, Atiku Abubakar, a Northern Muslim clinched the ticket for the PDP, the major opposition party and Bola Tinubu, also a Muslim but from the South clinched the ticket for the APC. The only candidate who meets the requirement of Southern Christian is Peter Obi of the Labour Party but his candidacy seems like the proverbial long walk to freedom as he is the third force, after the APC and PDP and believed not to have the political structure required to win the presidency. This has all been interesting to witness and live through but the next interesting event will be how the candidates will pick their running mates and who they'll be picking. Who do you think they'll pick as running mates and how do you think it will affect their candidacies?
Politics, Religion and Shenanigans.
By Tari Ogbowei
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