A group of Northern Muslims have asked Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, running mate to the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to look elsewhere for support and votes ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
They said they may not vote for Obi following Baba-Ahmed’s comment which appears to indicate he is not proud of his ethnic and religious origins.
Baba-Ahmed who represented Kaduna-North in the previous senate was alleged to have said that he will not like to be called a Muslim or northerner.
Daily Post claims in a report that it interviewed some citizens of Zamfara State and they rebuked the politician for being ‘ungrateful’ to Allah for his Islamic faith and his northern roots.
One of the people the newspaper reportedly interviewed who revealed his name as Yusuf Abubakar, said Baba-Ahmed does not deserve support from the north since he is not proud of his religion and tribe.
“If he has publicly said that he does not support tribalism, then nobody would comment on that because tribalism can destroy the entire country,” Abubakar reportedly said.
According to him, northerners may not cast their votes for Labour Party in 2023.
He said Peter Obi was proud to be a Catholic despite the derogatory comment directed to him by the spiritual leader of the Adoration Ministry, Fr Ejike Mbaka.
He said Obi openly stated that he remains loyal to the Church, Fr Mbaka and he has never disowned his identity as an Igbo man.
“Does this mean some of us are not comfortable or feel ashamed to be associated with our blessed religion of Islam or our noble background as people from Northern Nigeria?
“I hope he was misquoted out of context, otherwise he better look for supporters elsewhere,” Ahmed reportedly said.
Yusuf Datti’s comment was extracted from Baba-Ahmed’s recent interview with BBC News.
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