Against the backdrop of permutations and insinuations that only Muslim-Muslim ticket will guarantee victory for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) come 2023 general elections, an Arewa group under the auspices of Northern Nigeria Front for Equity and Good Governance (NNFEGG) has said such insinuations, if given credence, is capable of portraying the North as being politically insensitive.

Addressing a press conference in Kaduna, Friday, the group in a text jointly signed by Zakariya AbdulAzeez (President), Mr Moses Ladan Auta (General Secretary) and Bashir Bala Mustapha (Publicity Secretary), said the briefing was necessitated by the need to address pertinent issues aimed at achieving peace, unity, progress and sustainable democracy in our dear country.

The group maintained that the unity of the North is sacrosanct as initiated and sustained by its respected father’s like the Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of the Northern Region, the late Sir Ahmadu Bello; late Sir Kashim Ibrahim, late J.S Tarka and carried further by succeeding generations with the likes of late Chief Solomon Daushep Lar, late Sunday Awoniyi, late Adamu Ciroma among others who played various roles in pushing the interests of the North as a united indivisible entity in spite of its diversities.

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“We wish to remind Nigerians that the North has always participated in national politics as a diverse but united entity with common goals and aspirations. In the same vein, our voting pattern has been characteristically nationalistic without regards for sectional, ethnic and religious considerations”.

The group further noted that northerners have always voted inclusively without reservations, citing how northerners voted for late Shehu Shagari in 1979 without divisive considerations, and also in 1993 aborted elections, voted dispassionately the joint ticket of MKO Abiola and Babagana Kingibe and repeated same for Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 and 2003 and former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 respectively.

The group said, “In particular, we find it very divisive, careless and callous for some persons to say that the choice of a Christian from the North will not guarantee Northern votes for certain political parties. For instance, they have brazenly and openly said that only the choice of a Muslim from the North as running mate to candidate of the ruling party can guarantee the votes of the North, implying that only a Muslim/Muslim ticket is the only way to victory for the ruling party.

“This is misleading and such position is not only incorrect, but an attempt to mislead the good people of the region into thinking that religion or ethnicity is the major determining factor and voting pattern of the North.”