Muslim-Muslim ticket: Group wants Lalong punished over reference to Pope

According to the group, Lalong should be punished for bringing the name of Pope and the Catholic church to disrepute while justifying his decision to serve as Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council.

At a press conference in Abuja Thursday, August 11, 2022, addressed by national convener/president, Dr Ben Amodu, said the concerned Catholics in Nigeria are alarmed that Lalong would elect to throw caution into the wind by dragging the revered Catholic church into local politics in Nigeria for whatever it is worth.

“The reference to the Pope in his statement for accepting to serve as the director-general of the APC presidential campaign council was made in poor taste and a puerile attempt to drag the Catholic church into a matter that has no bearing with the Pope.”

“It remains a shame that politicians would stop at nothing to win elections, even to the detriment of selling their birth rights for a plate of porridge, as in the case of Governor Simon Bako Lalong, who, after accepting to serve as the DG of the presidential campaign council, elected to justify his actions using the name of the Pope.

"We find it hard to believe that Governor Simon Bako Lalong would find it morally convenient to drag the Pope and the entire catholic community into the APC politics of the Muslim-Muslim Ticket.

"It is an act of aberrance in desperation to serve his paymasters hence the despicable statement by Governor Lalong in seeking the justification for his actions, which falls within his rights, but not to the detriment of the collective sensibilities of other Catholics in Nigeria and around the world.

“We are tempted to believe that Governor Lalong wants to incite religious tension in the country to pitch the Catholic and Protestant communities against each other in an unhealthy debate over the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC", Amodu said.

It would be recalled that since the APC Presidential candidate Bola Tinubu picked the former governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima as his running mate, the Christian community in the country has expressed their displeasure over the decision.

The acceptance of Governor Lalong to serve as DG campaign for the ticket has also sparked off a series of backlash with most calling Lalong a betrayer.