Kano governor Abdullahi Ganduje has charged Muslims in Osun state to vote incumbent governor Gboyega Oyetola because he is the only Muslim governor in South-West, Nigeria.

Mr Ganduje, in an audio published by BBC Hausa on Friday spoke at a Hausa-dominated mosque in the state capital.

“I’m here to help our brother who we want him to win the election tomorrow,” Mr Ganduje told the Islamic faithful at the Jumaat prayers. “According to reports and what is on ground, he is the only Muslim governor in the South-West so that’s why I came to this big mosque to asked them to vote for him tomorrow.”

The Osun governorship election is scheduled for tomorrow June 16, with Mr Oyetola of the APC being challenged by Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party and Yusuf Lasun of the Labour Party.

Mr Ganduje further said, “you know Alh. Ahmed Tinubu has been given opportunity to contest on the platform of APC and we advised him to pick a Muslim as his vice and he has done it greatly so that is why in this mighty mosque we have asked them to vote for Tinubu and they have agreed to all vote for Tinubu.”

Mr Ganduje’s statement comes amid criticisms trailing Mr Tinubu’s choice of a Muslim vice presidential candidate for the 2023 election.

Since Mr Tinubu, a Muslim former Lagos governor announced Kashim Shettima, a Muslim from Boko Haram-ravaged Borneo State, accusations of religious exclusivity against Christians have been slammed on him and his party.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) had previously expressed worries that Mr Tinubu could plunge the country into religious crisis should he pick a Muslim as his vice-presidential candidate.

Members of the APC Christian caucus have rejected the Tinubu-Shettima candidature, predicting calamity for the ruling party after the manner of 1993 presidential election when the Abiola-Kingibe’s “pyrrhic” victory was cut short by a military junta.

The caucus on Monday issued a communique conveying their disappointment and resistance to the party’s selection of two Muslims as its presidential flag bearers.

“That the current Nigerian environment and political atmosphere is different from what occurred in 1993 and therefore a Muslim-Muslim ticket is unacceptable.

“It doesn’t take the smart to know that Abiola/Kingibe victory turned out to be a pyrrhic victory as there was never a President Abiola nor vice President Kingibe. Is that what we want a repeat of in 2023?” partly read the communique.