Muslim-Muslim ticket wins presidential elections in religiously divided Nigeria
The president-elect, Bola Tinubu, a Muslim from the south of Nigeria, named Kashim Shettima, also a Muslim from the north, as his running mate
The presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Armed Tinubu, a southern Muslim, and his running mate, Kashim Shettima, have won the most competitive election in the history of Africa’s most populous country, the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The president-elect, a Muslim who hails from the south-west of Nigeria, named Kashim Shettima, also a Muslim, but from northern Nigeria, as his running mate for the 25 February 2023 presidential election.
Ahead of the naming of Vice President-Elect Kashim Shettima as Tinubu’s running mate, it had been argued by some APC political analysts that a Yoruba candidate from the south-west (such as Tinubu) needed to generate electoral support from the core northern Muslim electorate to win.
The reasoning in the APC camp at the time was that the 2023 elections might be a close call, with the Labour Party taking significant Southern and Christian votes and Kwankwaso’s New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) taking a big chunk of the Kano and core Muslim votes.
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In Nigeria, there are three main religions recognised by the people: Christianity, Islam and animism. These religions have differences that have brought about unrest as the tolerance level has attained a point of polarity. The various periods of unrest have created insecurity nationally.
About half of Nigeria’s population identifies as Muslim and the other half identify with the Christian faith. Since military rule ended in Nigeria in 1999, the country’s presidency has typically alternated between a Christian Southerner and a Muslim Northerner.
Nigeria’s Muslims mostly live in the north, and the Christians live mostly in the south. The indigenous religions, such as those native to the Igbo and Yoruba ethnicities, are in the minority.
The incumbent president Muhammadu Buhari’s immediate predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from Nigeria’s south, broke that pattern by occupying the office for more than one term.
Buhari’s election in 2015 was generally perceived as the product of it being a Muslim’s turn to take the post, as well as an opportunity to tackle corruption and defeat the Boko Haram militant group that had seized substantial territory under Jonathan.
After two terms in office by Buhari’s APC, it was the expectation those on the Christian sie of the divide in Nigeria that Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, who is a Christian from Anambra State in southern Nigeria, and his running mate, Yusuf Baba-Ahmed, a former senator from Kaduna State in the north, would take over the reins of power in Nigeria.
However, their bid – despite a huge social media campaign – failed to meet the criteria set out in Section 134 of the Nigerian constitution for presidential elections, polling roughly 6,101,533 of the total valid votes cast.
Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes in total to defeat his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 6,984,520 to emerge second.
Nearly 90 million people were eligible to vote in Africa’s largest democracy, with many Nigerians hoping a new leader will do a better job of tackling insecurity, economic decline and growing poverty.
Wilberforce Asare
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