First Lady Remi Tinubu, during her trip to the U.S., said Muslims outnumber Christians in Nigeria as she explained and justified her husband, President Bola Tinubu’s same-faith ticket.

Mrs Tinubu, a pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, told The Free Press that her husband’s Muslim-Muslim ticket was a political decision.

Explaining her husband’s decision to contest on a Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 2023 election, which attracted much opposition from Christians in Nigeria, Mrs Tinubu said someone from the southern part of the country cannot pick a Christian running mate but a Muslim.

“Let’s face it, the Muslims are more than us,” Mrs Tinubu said. “If a southerner wants to run for president, politics is a game of numbers. You have to pick another Muslim. You can’t pick a Christian.”

The first lady further said that in the Presidential Villa, she takes care of both the interests of Christians and Muslims.

“I’m a Christian in the presidential villa. I take care of the interests of Christians, and I also take care of Muslims. That is what life should be. We have to respect everybody, irrespective of religion,” Mrs Tinubu said.

Mrs Tinubu, who attended the National Prayer Breakfast in the U.S. last week, said her mission to America was to “make some clarifications about recent hype on social media that there is Christian genocide.”

The first lady said the Christian genocide campaign erupted just after her husband’s government navigated the country out of economic turbulence characterised by soaring food prices and a declining naira.

In another interview with The Hill during her visit to the United States, Mrs Tinubu said “global concern about persecution of Christians in the country is based on ‘propaganda.’”

However, she called for more U.S. military strikes targeting terrorists and bandits in the northern region of the country, describing the Christmas Day military strikes ordered by President Donald Trump as a “blessing” to the West African nation.