Vice President-elect Kashim Shettima has defended the choice of former governor Godswill Akpabio as the preferred candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) for the position of the president of the senate of the 10th National Assembly.
Akpabio emerged as the choice of APC for the senate president after he was endorsed for the same position by President-Elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
However, the choice of Akpabio has resulted in rancour as other aspirants for the position in the ruling party have rejected him
But speaking when he received Tajudeen Abass and Benjamin Kalu as who were also endorsed by the APC as Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House respectively on Friday, Shetimma said Akpabio was chosen for the purpose of faith balancing.
He added that it will not be in Nigeria’s best interest for the first four citizens of the country to belong to the same faith.
Shettima said the APC should also not be seen to be lending credence to insinuations of an agenda to Islamise the country.
“What we are trying to avoid is a situation whereby the number one citizen, number two citizen, the number three citizen, the number four citizen are all of the same faith. That will validate the negative narrative of Islamization of Nigeria.
