Christians in the north will deploy prayers and their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) in protest against the All Progressives Congress (APC) for fielding two Muslims as presidential and vice presidential candidates in the 2023 presidential election.

“Clearly, there is an agenda to politically, religiously, and economically suppress and oppress the Northern Christian. But we are up to the task,” former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, said on Friday.

Mr Lawal, who was speaking at a summit of APC northern Christian leaders, said there was a “calculated anti-Christian exclusion agenda being implemented” against Christians in the north, adding that “We will protect ourselves. The PVC and our prayers will be our weapons of choice and we will massively deploy them in 2023.”

He condemned the party and its presidential candidate Bola Tinubu for picking former governor of Borno, Kashim Shettima, who shares the same Muslim faith as Mr Tinubu, against the outrage from northern Christians, who feel excluded

The APC chieftain criticised the ruling party for being silent about their grievances and rejection of the ticket. He said rather than reach out to northern Christians, the party and Messrs Tinubu and Shettima went about hiring fake bishops to portray the choice of the vice presidential candidate as acceptable among Nigerian Christians.

“One might ask: why is the APC itself mute about our rejection of this Muslim-Muslim ticket? And why has none of the other perpetrators of this crisis reached out to Christians for a dialogue? Why are they instead hiring fake Bishops and taking church groups to further embarrass the Church? Why are they embarking on a vicious media war against CAN and the Church instead of seeking reconciliation? Truly, things are not adding up,” Mr Lawal said.

Mr Tinubu claimed his choice of a Muslim running mate was informed by competence, however, his decision has sparked criticisms as Christians see the decision as a divisive politics of exclusion that would widen dichotomy between the two dominant religion.

Peoples Gazette had exclusively reported that the State Security Service in a secret memo to President Muhammadu Buhari, warned that Mr Tinubu’s choice of a vice-presidential candidate would trigger a sectarian crisis that could destabilise Nigeria.