As th race to the 2027 general elections gathers momentum across the country, a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Niger State, Hon. Jonathan Vatsa has advised the State Governor, Mohammed Bago to consider a Christian Deputy Governor to address what he called “Open marginalization of Christians by the present administration in the state”.
Vatsa, who was the pioneer Publicity Secretary of the APC in the state, said the only thing that will guarantee an automatic victory for the party in the forthcoming general elections in the state is to get a Christian Deputy.
Speaking with newsmen in Minna on Saturday amidst growing complains by the Christian community in the state over the outcome of the party primaries where all the candidates for various political offices are Muslims, Vatsa maintained that such arrangements cannot help the party in the general elections.
He disclosed that only one House of Assembly candidate from Munya Local Government was left for the entire Christians.
Vatsa, who was a former Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, said it is unfortunate that no Christian aspirants was qualified to be picked in “the government house arranged consensus/selection of candidates”.
Vatsa said the open display of likeness for the Christians by the governor Umaru Mohammed Bago does not in anyway reflect the reality on the ground, adding that Christians in the state are heavily marginalized in both political appointments and elective positions in the state.
According to him “From the last “appointment” of local government Chairmen and their Vice, to the just concluded party primaries where candidates were merely selected, Christians were carefully and deliberately side lined.
“The marginalization of Christians in the state is so obvious that, all the 25 local government chairmen in the state are Muslims, 98 percent of the Vice Chairpersons are Muslims.
“Again when you look at the candidates for all the elective positions for the 2027 elections, the three Senatorial candidates are Muslims, the 11 house of representative candidates are Muslims and 26 out of the 27 House of Assembly candidates are Muslims.
“This is a sharp contrast to the open display of likeness for Christians in the state by the governor who presided the selection of candidates for the 2027 elections at the government”.
He then likened the Governor’s visit to churches and Christian gatherings a showmanship saying “it is not by going to churches and singing choruses and dancing, it is about being sincere in your dealings with the Christian community in the state.
“When you make donations to churches, you sing choruses, you dance, and when it comes to political appointments or allocation of elective positions, you side line them, that is not likeness but a deceit”.
Vatsa who served as Special Adviser to the governor on Public Private Partnership (PPP) and later Media and Communications, pointed out that the only way to address this high level of marginalization is for the governor to pick a Christian Deputy.
“That is the only way people like us can approach the Christian community and to campaign for the party ahead of the general elections.
“Anything short of this will not augur well with the party. I can assure you that if any of the opposition parties pick a Christian as Deputy governor in the state, it will get sympathy votes from the Christian community in the state”, he said.
