We need leaders not a Christian or Muslim, By Kunle Awosiyan

I always find it irritating to start a debate along religious line when it comes to leadership. For me, bringing religious sentiment into politics is like reducing leadership to a sort of entitlement.

For instance, Pastor E.A Adeboye is a Christian Cleric but I see him more as a man of immense leadership quality rather than a great pastor.

The reason is because a pastor is a shepherd of sheep, “Oluso Aguntan” but Adeboye is overseeing both sheep and goats at this period. He has a lot to contend with, yet he is excelling because in him is a natural leadership ability.

In Islam I see the pictures of Sheikh Ibraheem Niasse on private cars, commercial buses, tricycles of his Muslim followers almost everyday.

He was a Senegalese Muslim leader, a close friend of the late Ghanaian leader, Kwame Nkrumah and a preacher of one Africa. A peace loving religious leader whose ideology did not only portray him as a religionists but an Africanist.

I have chosen these two men to prepare our minds against religious bigotry that has now become a function of leadership in this country. Again I have chosen them because of their knowledge base which depends more on the Holy Bible and Al Quran as the guide to lead their sheep.

Of course, Adeboye studied Mathematics, he will not base Bible teaching on the laws of science but the God’s ten commandments. He will rather teach the church about forgiveness instead of death for a criminal according to our constitution. He does not need to consult the constitution but the Bible in his search for eternity.

However, he may have to carry two books if he was in Yemi Osinbajo’s shoes, the constitution and the Bible. These are two separate books that contradict each other. One is for humanity and eternity, the Bible, the other is strictly for humanity.

Now the question is this, who does a Muslim/Christian presidency help in Nigeria? I guess nobody, except those who have close relationship with such a leader for their personal gains.

If the agenda of the Christian body is just to have a representation in the presidency , then it will fly because any church goer will fit in as the vice president of either of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu or Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

But then, the position will not automatically translate to security of life and property as witnessed in the past and present Christian/Muslim combinations.

If the chosen Christian vice president has got no leadership capacity or quality that can help the president to transform the country’s economy, then it is an agenda in futility.

He will be going there to play democracy not theocracy and will need two books, the Holy Bible and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to exhibit his leadership style. That is why I get easily irritated when people sit to discuss which Christian candidate will be flying with Tinubu or Atiku.

As a matter of fact, I will love to see a conscientious Christian running with any of our presidential candidates but searching for a Christian running mate should not be a compulsion. A running mate should be based on quality, ability to deliver and most importantly his chemistry with the party flag bearer.

For me and for the love of this country, what matters most between a president and his vice is their chemistry not their religion or ethnicity. Presidential candidates should be allowed to choose their own running mates so as to have better chemistry without which governance will suffer.

A bad example is President Olusegun Obasanjo and his vice, Atiku Abubakar whose government slowed down development because the leaders could not trust themselves even though they were Christian/Muslim combination.

And for those who were waiting for President Muhammadu Buhari to anoint his vice, Yemi Osinbajo, it was clear at the end of the APC presidential primaries that the idea failed to fly because of no chemistry. (More to write on this later).

In the race to to Aso Rock Villa in 2023, a running mate should not be based on religion but the chemistry between him and the standard bearer.

-Awosiyan, a journalist writes from Lagos