Allegation of using deception to woo Christians from the north has been levelled at the first lady, Mrs Remi Tinubu.
Former minister of Sports and Youth Development, Solomon Dalung, threw this accusation at Mrs Tinubu in an interview with Punchng.
In it, the ex-minister claimed Muslims from the region who were sold on the idea of a Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate during the 2023 election suffered betrayal from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and are now against him.
“Currently, Tinubu’s wife is going around minorities, or the northern Christians, and misinforming them or luring them with this argument that the northern Muslims have rejected Tinubu, so they should come and own the President.
“And because we are a gullible community, we have jumped into it. But my question to the Christians in the north is that, ‘you misled the people and campaigned against Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2023, what moral justification do you have to entertain a Nicodemus visit from Tinubu’s wife?
“Has the Muslim-Muslim situation been changed? If it has not changed, what moral ground does our clergy and Christian leaders have to receive Tinubu’s wife after campaigning against Muslim-Muslim ticket?’
“So, the Muslims are more honest than us, because they supported Muslim-Muslim ticket and they declared that they would not do it again when they were betrayed.
“There are some northern Christian leaders who try to woo me into accepting this argument that since the northern Muslims have rejected Tinubu, we should come and own him. And I ask them the question, ‘if Tinubu can betray Muslims whom they meet in the mosque, where are we going to meet him if he betrays us?’ I want the Christians in the North to answer this question. It is just mere hypocrisy and greed. If the Christians are honest, they don’t need to support anyone. They need to align with the Muslims now and get a Christian candidate from the South, in fact, specifically from the South-West to contest with Tinubu so that they can defeat and teach him a lesson. But you cannot go and collect dollars in the night and come back and try to revise the Bible. For me, I would prefer to accept the apology of the northern Muslims because as a Christian, my Bible teaches me forgiveness. If the Muslims have said, this man is not good, he betrayed us, we are sorry, I will accept their apology and align with them so that we can get an alternative to Tinubu in the South to defeat him. I will not go and embark on Nicodemus’ visit to Tinubu and say ‘Now that we should own the President that the northern Muslims have rejected him.’ That is hypocrisy,” Dalung told the publication.
