2027: APC Christian chair reignites Muslim-Muslim ticket debate

Yilwatda

The emergence of Prof Nentawe Yilwatda, a northern Christian from Plateau State, as the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress has begun to stir speculation that the APC may be planning a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the 2027 presidential election.

The political calculation has triggered a debate among adherents across party lines and in religious spaces.

Sunday PUNCH reports that APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket for the 2023 general elections provoked a storm of controversies, with the opposition alleging an Islamisation agenda.

On Thursday, the APC picked Yilwatda as its new National Chairman to replace Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, a Muslim from Kano State, who stepped down weeks earlier due to what the APC termed ill health.

Yilwatda was unveiled during the APC’s emergency National Executive Committee meeting, presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Until his appointment last Thursday, Yilwatda, from the North Central region, was the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction.

Political watchers believe that his pick was a strategic gambit by the ruling APC, and it is a pointer to what is coming ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

The APC had courted strong criticism and outrage in 2023 when its then-presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, a southern Muslim, picked Kashim Shettima, a northern Muslim, as his running mate.

Many Nigerians, especially from the Christian community, criticised the Tinubu-Shettima Muslim-Muslim ticket, raising questions about inclusivity and democratic representation.

Since then, the Muslim-Muslim ticket has continued to be a flashpoint of intense political debate in certain parts of the country.