By Shabul Mazadu.

It was laughable reading a piece from Hon. Yakubu Dati, Plateau State Commissioner of Lands and Survey as well as the Chief of Staff to the Tinubu/Shettima Campaign Director General, Rt. Hon. Simon Lalong, bashing former Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara over his castigation of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Muslim - Muslim Presidential ticket. 

The piece was more of the popular adage "black kettle calling black pot black."

In the piece titled; "Muslim-Muslim ticket: Deconstructing Dogara" Dati attacked Dogara saying he was only attempting to fan the embers of religious crisis which he failed, and that he was self centered and selfish. 

First and foremost, let me remind Dati that Dogara was not the only one that described the Muslim+Muslim Presidential ticket of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as unethical. 

The member representing Pankshin/Kanke/Kanam Federal Constituency, Rt. Hon. Yusuf Gagdi made the assertion before Tinubu decided to toe the path of the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket. In an interview on Channels Television on 13th June, 2022, Gagdi said, "I am a Muslim, Islam is built on justice. The five national objectives talk about a just and egalitarian society, a land of bright and equal opportunities for all citizens. If you look at the dissension issues of trust among Nigerian people, you will not contemplate talking about Christian-Christian ticket or Muslim-Muslim ticket." 

If same religion presidential - vice presidential ticket is healthy, why is the Senate moving towards amending the constitution of the Federal Republic to stem it in future? 

Accusing Dogara of fighting against the Muslim-Muslim ticket because he lost out in securing the vice presidential ticket is absurd. It would have been a cogent reason if it were a Christian Tinubu picked and Dogara keeps fighting against it. 

If Dogara is fighting against the same faith presidential ticket because he lost out in being picked as running mate, it can best be said too that Dati being a beneficiary is fighting for its success. If Governor Lalong was not picked as the Director General of the campaign team, and Yakubu Dati was not selected as his Chief of Staff, would he have defended Tinubu's choice knowing that it's quick sand to the APC on the Plateau? If yes, why was he and Lalong quiet in 2003 when the PDP was campaigning against Jonah Jang the gubernatorial candidate of the All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP using religion, saying it was a Muslim party? Let him bring his prove that he went against the political gimmick.  

If Dogara is politically selfish, what is Yakubu Dati? Dogara is not the only politician from Tafawa Balewa, likewise Dati is not the only politician from Mikang Local Government Area. Dati was a local government chairman of Mikang, a two time Commissioner of Information, General Manager Corporate Affairs of the Nigeria Airports Authority, a former Personal Assistant to Hon Josephine Tapgun then State Minister of Commerce and Industry,  Commissioner of Lands and Survey and the Chief of Staff to the DG Tinubu/Shettima Campaign organisation. If Dogara dominated Tafawa Balewa, Dati dominates Mikang LGA. 
If Dogara tried ousting then Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Fund, Professor Elias Bogoro, what did Dati do to those who fought and ensured that the PDP was defeated in Plateau in 2015?

Yakubu Dati was a frontline campaigner for the PDP's victory in 2015 being a Federal Government appointee which if it had won the presidency, the APC would have lost the Governorship in Plateau. 

Dati switched to the APC as soon as the PDP lost knowing fully well that he will not return to the Nigeria Airports Authority, NAA. After Lalong's victory he became a strong beneficiary of the administration at the expense of those who remained steadfast and resilient to the opposition party since 2007 to 2015. Most of the pioneers of the APC have been pushed out of the party and left to the new timers who are friends of Lalong to occupy like Yakubu Dati. 
Talking of fairness, out of the eleven selected into the Presidential campaign of Tinubu/Shettima from Plateau, seven are from the Southern Zone where Dati and Lalong hail from, six are Gamai, two from the Central Zone and two from the Northern Zone. Is that fairness? 
The Tinubu/Shettima Campaign DG is Gamai likewise the Gubernatorial DG in Plateau. With these, Dati and Lalong cannot criticize Tinubu over the Muslim-Muslim ticket because of their ethnic favouritism.

Is it fairness to rob Peter and pay Paul? Who in the topmost political appointments of Lalong paid the supreme sacrifice for the APC to oust the PDP? Is this justice? Babatunde Fashola said, "He that will benefit from the common purse must contribute to the common purse." How many of the political appointees laid down their lives for the APC that are reaping the dividends? Why then accusing Dogara of unfairness and injustice simply because he exercised his franchise of speaking against the Muslim-Muslim ticket?

In as much as Lalong has the right to support the Muslim-Muslim ticket, and Dati too, Dogara has the right to oppose it. 

Truth be told, was Tinubu not warned against the Muslim-Muslim ticket? Why did  Muhammadu Buhari reject the idea in 2015? Was it not for fairness? Atiku Abubakar the presidential candidate of the PDP alleges too that Tinubu wanted him to pick him as a running mate in 2007 to have a Muslim-Muslim ticket, but he refused. 

Tinubu said he picked Shettima because of competence, depicting that there was no competent christian in the North to be his running mate, which has aggrevated a lot of Christians. So, if Dogara is disenchanted, so long as he did not ask anyone to pick up arms, but to vote out the APC, he is right. 

Saying Tinubu should have taken a Christian as running mate, he is calling for religious balance and not war. 

If Dogara should be blamed for fighting a course for his faith, why should Tinubu the cause of such disenchantment be spared if there is justice?