Senator Kashim Shettima, the Vice President-elect of the All Progressive Congress (APC), addressed concerns on Saturday that he and the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, have an agenda to Islamize Nigeria.
Divergent opinions have been expressed since Tinubu announced Shettima as his running mate last year. Some claim that the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) could be a plot to Islamize Nigeria.
However, addressing a lecture in Abuja as part of the celebrations for Tinubu’s inauguration on May 29, the incoming vice president allayed those concerns by claiming that there was no plan to convert the whole of Nigeria to Islam.
He described his principal as a Muslim who is married to a Christian and a pastor at the Redeemed Christian Church of God.
“I was a child of necessity; there is no Islamization agenda. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a Muslim who is married to a Christian—not only a Christian but a pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God.
“Someone who has not Islamized his family—people are alluding that he has the intention to Islamize the nation,” he added.
The Vice President-elect revealed that he deliberately picked an Igbo man of the Catholic faith to be his Chief Security Officer.
Also selected as his security aide is a Northerner to be his Aide de Camp (ADC), saying his decision was based on togetherness and inclusivity.
“Politics is about perception. As we begin the formation of a new administration, I deliberately picked an Igbo man, a Catholic, to be my Chief Security Officer,” he stated.
