The Southern Kaduna Peoples Union said there was no way it would allow its people to vote for a Muslim-Muslim presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election.
The SOKAPU’s spokesperson, Luka Binniyat, who spoke in Kaduna on Thursday, said the southern Kaduna people had resolved never to support the idea.
Meanwhile, a Nigerian civil-right activist based in the United States of America, Mr Smart Madu-Ajaja, said the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, had the basic human and constitutional right to choose whoever he liked as running mate.
According to him, aggrieved Nigerians equally have the right through the ballot papers to stop him (Tinubu) in the forthcoming presidential election.
Madu-Ajaja in an e-mail message to our correspondent in Kaduna on Thursday, said, “Bola Ahmed Tinubu has a basic human and constitutional right to choose even Osama Bin Laden as his running mate ahead of the 2023 presidential election if he was a Nigerian citizen with no established criminal conviction.
“However, aggrieved Nigerians who think otherwise also have a collective God-given right to choice and self-determination to mobilise a critical mass of conscious voting majority to overrule and stop him with a bold statement at the poll.
“Therefore, the talk and cry about his choice that have rented the air are quite frankly unnecessary and will not produce any result unless the aggrieved inspire themselves and the rest of the country to build a synergy to nullify it with the audacity of the power of the people.
On his part, Binniyat said, “SOKAPU has sounded this warning loud and clear. Our people home and outside Kaduna State shall not stand with any political party that does not respect the religious and or ethnic diversity of Kaduna State or the Nigerian state.
“With a population of about 5.2 million in 12 of Kaduna State’s 23 LGAs, we have a voting strength of no less than 2.3 million votes.”
He noted that “our experience with the Muslim-Muslim leadership in Kaduna State under the leadership of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has been most tragic, anti-progressive and a fodder for bigotry and repression against us.
“SOKAPU will stand to condemn any party that does a Christian-Christian ticket for the presidential election. We believe in equity and justice for all.”