South-West predominantly Muslims… we make up 65% of its population, Tinubu campaign DG claims

The director general of Asiwaju Tinubu Presidential Campaign Organisation, Adebayo Shittu, has claimed that Muslims make up 65% of the southwestern part of Nigeria.

Shittu made the claim on Tuesday when he appeared on Focus Nigeria, an AIT show.

His comment had come amid the backlash trailing the Muslim-Muslim ticket of Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Tinubu, who is a Muslim, had earlier announced Kashim Shettima, former governor of Kano state, also a Muslim, as his running mate.

The development has continued to attract intense backlash with the Christian Association of Nigerian and others kicking against the move.

But speaking on the show, Shittu dismissed the criticisms.

According to him, “in the South-West of Nigeria, the Muslims constitute an average of 65%” of the population.

When asked if his claim was based on fact or projection, he said, “I don’t tell lies. You can investigate. Do your research.”

He added, “It is on the basis of religion that people are making noise about the so-called Muslim-Muslim ticket.

“In Ekiti, it is Christian-Christian ticket. In Ondo, it is Christian-Christian ticket. In Edo, where the Northern part of the state is largely Muslim, it is Christian-Christian ticket. Nobody is making noise about this.”

Also speaking on the APC’s loss in the Osun State governorship poll, Shittu noted that the defeat of the incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola, was a very big disappointment.

The former Minister of Communications said, “The Osun incident was a very big disappointment. But for some of us, it was not too surprising and I regret to say this.

“A lot of factors must have contributed to what happened.”

On Sunday, the Independent National Electoral Commission declared Senator Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party the winner of Saturday’s governorship election in the state.

The Returning Officer for the election and Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, said Adeleke got a total of 403,371 votes to beat Governor Oyetola who polled 375,027 votes in the keenly contested race.