The Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Adewole Adebayo, has dismissed the idea of a Muslim-Muslim ticket as a determining factor in Nigeria’s politics, saying Nigerians are more concerned about electing competent and just leaders ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Speaking on Tuesday, Adebayo argued that religion should not be the basis for choosing leaders, insisting that justice, competence and integrity are what matter most.
“There is nothing like the Muslim-Muslim ticket,” Adebayo said. “When the issue came up four years ago, I told those asking about it that if they were expecting a Muslim-Muslim ticket in President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima, they would be lucky to even have a single Muslim out of the two.”
He further described the Tinubu-Shettima administration as a “zero-zero ticket,” arguing that Islamic jurisprudence places greater emphasis on justice than on a leader’s religious identity.
“From the point of view of Muslims in Nigeria, it is a zero-zero ticket because what is expected of a leader in Islam is not religion but justice,” he said. “If you are a good Muslim, you do not give public office to someone who is not fit for the responsibility.”
Adebayo also claimed that the Muslim-Muslim ticket narrative was used to manipulate public opinion through religious sentiment.
“The whole concept from the beginning was just to defraud the populace by using religious sentiment,” he said. “What the North and all Nigerians are looking for is a righteous leader, regardless of the person’s religion.”
He added that the country’s current challenges have exposed the shortcomings of identity-based politics, citing former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai as an example.
“When there is no justice, even one of the strongest proponents of the Muslim-Muslim ticket, Nasir El-Rufai, and his family are now crying for justice. That is the biggest irony,” Adebayo said.
According to him, Nigerians are no longer interested in debates over religious balancing but are seeking leaders capable of delivering justice, good governance and national development.
