Former Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF), Babachir Lawal has said he will not support the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu in the presidential election in 2023 as a result of the same faith ticket.
Lawal, an APC chieftain, said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar agreed to what the Northern Christians wanted and will have his support.
Ex-SGF made this known in a recent interview with the BBC, saying he and others backed Tinubu to win the primary election, but they later realised he had been hiding his decision to pick a Muslim running mate from them.
Lawal reiterated he is no longer supporting the former Lagos state governor and APC will lose the presidential election.
He said, “I am not for Bola Tinubu now. I am not for a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“It is Bola who did not want to go with us, he chose where he wants to go, and we told him that we will not vote for him if he did a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) discussed with us and they agreed to do what we want if we support them and we agreed to support them.”
PDP opted for a Muslim-Christian ticket as the former Vice President Atiku chose Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as his running mate.
Lawal disclosed that the Labour Party tried so much to convince him and other aggrieved members to work for the party.
He added, “You see the problem of the northerners, if you say you are a Christian, it is difficult for us to get a job.
“You see, of the 27 universities in the north, there are only two Christian VCs and of 27 polytechnics there are only two Christian rectors, that’s federal, but not to talk of state-owned.”
Babachir complained that the ‘discrimination’ shown to Christians in the North is too much for them, “and you still went ahead to do Muslim-Muslim ticket; that is double blows on us.”
When asked whether they tried to reach Tinubu to discuss the issue, he said, “No, he is the one to look for us now, I will not look for him. We have a place to go and a place to stay. But he didn’t look for us.
“If he sees that he will win the election, let see how he will win the election.”
He insited that he is still in the APC but he and his cronies would not support Tinubu.
Speaking on that he might be accused of anti-party conduct, the ex-government scribe said he was worried even if he would be insulted.
“If Buhari leaves politics, I will also leave because I joined politics because of him,” he added.
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