"Nigerians are hungry, they want to see how that hunger will be addressed, not how their Christian or Muslim faiths will be addressed."
A spokesperson of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, says Nigerians are too hungry to be swayed by their religious faiths in the choice they will make in the forthcoming general elections.
Mr Keyamo stated this during an interview with Channels Television on Sunday night, against the backdrop of the criticisms that have continued to trail the party's Muslim-Muslim ticket.
The ruling APC is fielding Bola Tinubu, a South-west Muslim and Kashim Shettima, a North-east Muslim, as its presidential and vice presidential candidates in the February election.
Despite the kicks from groups, organisations and persons of Christian faith, the ruling party has not backed down on promoting the ticket, insisting that it is the best for Nigerians.
In reiterating this position, Mr Keyamo, argued that Nigerians would like to see policies that will address their hunger rather than bothering about their faiths.
"Nigerians are hungry, they want to see how that hunger will be addressed, not how their Christian or Muslim faiths will be addressed.
"They want to see our policies on agriculture and what Asiwaju has done before as governor of Lagos State, how he improved Lagos and how he will bring that kind of posterity to Nigeria as a whole," he said.
Mr Keyamo also seized the opportunity to react to the condemnation of Tinubu/Shettima ticket by the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN).
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The Christian group said it has no affiliation with clergymen under its umbrella that met with Mr Tinubu in Abuja on Friday. They also rejected the same faith ticket of the party.
The APC campaign spokesperson criticised the PFN for its comments on the decisions of his party.
"They should not be coming to question the decision of our party publicly. The purpose of pastors or their duty is to lead people to heaven not to lead people to villa.
"If I go to church every Sunday, I want to hear the sermon of God and I don't want to hear the sermon of politics or who should rule me. I want to hear the sermon of God and what will lead me to salvation and not what to lead me to the villa," Mr Keyamo argued.
While President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has continued to face strong criticisms from some individuals and groups for poor performance, the 2023 APC presidential candidate, Mr Tinubu, has promised to build on the incumbent's legacy.
The same ruling party rode into power in 2015 by promising to effectively tackle insecurity, infrastructural decay and economic downturns but the reality differs.
As political parties gear towards the official commencement of campaign on 28 September, similar promises are already rolling not only from the APC candidates but also from candidates contesting under the other 17 political parties.
