The All Progressives Congress has once more expressed its resolve to counter what it has often described as the deliberate use of religious differences by the Peoples Democratic Party to cause division among Nigerians. This determination was made known in Kaduna Friday by an official of the APC and Chairman of the party in Chikun local government area, Engr. Magaji Bala Matazu. Matazu who said his local government is a mini Nigeria with a mixed population of Christians and Muslims, pointed out that like the PDP has been doing across the nation and for which APC’s national leaders have complained on several occasions, the PDP branch in Chikun has adopted the use of religion to cause division among the people.
Speaking in an interview after a meeting of stakeholders from Chikun and party executives which took place at the campaign office of the El-Rufai Campaign Organisation in Kaduna, Matazu explained that such tactic by the PDP is the main challenge APC has in his LGA and for which reason it has been working hard to undo every damage in the weeks leading to the general election. “The main challenge we have is that PDP uses religion to divide our people in Chikun LGA because they say PDP is Christian party and APC is Muslim party,” he said.
He explained further that party’s stakeholders have been doing all they can to ensure that they bring in maximum votes for the APC candidate during the polls. “We had the latest meeting between stakeholders in Chikun and the party’s state executive and the purpose is to ensure that Chikun is for APC and it remains with APC. We have been strategizing in our meeting to checkmate all the arguments that PDP is trying to exploit. They say Chikun is for them, but we are doing everything possible to ensure that Chikun is for APC and that it remains so. Even if they had reasons to say such things in the past, we are bent on changing this and ensure that APC wins in Chikun in the general elections by God’s grace.”
The party chairman explained further that while APC shares handbills and posters, some PDP members have been sharing leaflets which claim that Mallam El-Rufai is against Christians. This too he said the party has been working to counter. “My ward chairmen informed me about this. They said some people share papers criticizing El-Rufai on the basis of religion, attributing to him what he has never said. But we know PDP members do this because they know they cannot undo El-Rufai’s popularity among our people,” Matazu said.
He added that the PDP has been engaged in other mischief including a false claim that El-Rufai will demolish houses in Goningora, a major community in the LGA. “PDP has also been spreading the rumour that El-Rufai is going to demolish houses in Goningora. So we felt the best thing to do was to invite our governorship candidate to go to this community and inform the people what he intended to do. He went there on a campaign rally and explained that what PDP had been saying was a lie. He told them that what he would do was to build up all the communities in the state rather than destroy them. We know this is the truth, but PDP has been claiming otherwise,” Matazu said, adding that the state needs the former FCT minister. “We know however that we need Mallam El-Rufai in this state because when you compare Kaduna State with others you will realize that we are far behind in terms of infrastructural development. So we need a governor who can make things to happen. Instead of PDP to see it this way, they are busy talking about demolition. We know our candidate is not going to demolish, rather he will build and we intend to continue to spread this message among all people in Chikun LGA.”
As for what he and his executive members have been doing specifically, Matazu said, they have been engaging all relevant groups for the purpose of undoing the lies already spread. “We have been holding meetings with several ethnic groups and religious leaders to show that this party is for everybody and every religion. They should not be carried away by the lies of the PDP that uses religious issues to create division in our area.
“We go on rallies and give posters, handbills and we inform those who are Christians that what PDP says is mere propaganda and a lie so they should refuse to be persuaded. We explain that the lies PDP is spreading should even be obvious. This is because there has never been any political party made up of only Christians or Muslims right from the First Republic. Every political party has members from both religions, so why should PDP think people will buy into its lies? Take for example our national chairman; he is a Christian; our vice-presidential candidate, Pastor Oshinbajo, is also a Christian. No one can therefore say APC is for only Muslims or for Christians.”
