OBMSGATEWAY

OBMSGATEWAY
Making Things Easy for Nigerian Diasporans back Home

Friday, October 31, 2014

AKIN OSUNTOKUN ON MUSLIM-MUSLIM TICKET

The logic behind the composition of presidential tickets is no rocket science. It is predicated on the principle of complementarity-you either aspire to reinforce what you consider the strength of your ticket or seek to neutralise and diffuse a negative perception. A good example of the latter is Buhari’s own previous presidential tickets.


If Buhari or any Muslim religion denominated winner of APC Presidential primaries now goes ahead and nominate a fellow Muslim running mate then the ticket will be an illustration of seeking to reinforce an identity-considered to be the selling point of the candidature. The unique identity being reinforced here is the Muslim identity-since it is implausible to find any other attribute that is particular to such a ticket.





Further implication will be found in the fact that the region from which the Muslim running mate will be sourced is the South-West-where there is a sizable population of Muslims. Is it logical to presume that a surreptitious appeal is thereby being made to Muslim voters in the zone? What signal would this send to Boko-Haram and similarly misguided potential political jihadists? What is the possibility that the materialisation of such a ticket will provoke and precipitate a counter religious mobilisation of Christians? Would this ticket be deemed nationally inclusive or exclusive?

No comments:

Post a Comment