Share
Abdulazeez Abubakar
1 day ago
Overview
Former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro , has shared his views on why President Bola Tinubu lost Lagos in the 2023 presidential election.
Obanikoro who spoke during an interview with Vanguard on Monday, February 23, 2026.
He said several political factors worked against Tinubu during the election period. According to him, although party supporters made strong efforts during the campaign, some issues shaped how voters made their choices.
The former senator pointed to the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket as one of the reasons behind the outcome.
He explained that it was the first time such a ticket was presented at the national level in Nigeria. He said many Nigerians were used to seeing a balance between Muslims and Christians on presidential tickets. When that pattern changed, it created concerns among some voters.
Obanikoro noted that Lagos has a large Christian population. He described the state as a major base for many Christian organisations in the country.
He said several churches and religious groups have their headquarters in Lagos or in nearby areas. Because of this, he said religion became an important topic during the election in the state.
He stated that some voters were worried that having candidates from the same religion at the top level could affect religious balance in leadership.
According to him, Nigerian politics has for many years followed an informal arrangement where both major religions are represented in key positions. When this long-standing pattern was altered, it led to different reactions from parts of the electorate.
"Asiwaju lost Lagos for so many reasons, not because some of us did not try our best. One, don’t forget that it was a Muslim/Muslim ticket. That was the first time that we had such in Nigeria.
Two, Lagos, whether you like it or not, is the capital of the Christian religious groups in Nigeria. All these religious associations or religious groups are all headquartered in Lagos or outskirts of Lagos, and they have a huge population.
The decision was taken because they felt threatened that a Muslim/Muslim ticket would reduce the Christians to second class citizens in Nigeria because that had never happened before.
What we were accustomed to before then was a faith-balanced ticket. If a Muslim heads, a Christian is second. Where a Christian is the head of the ticket, a Muslim would be the second. So that is what we were accustomed to, and it became the norm, like a tradition.
So anytime you want to create a shock in a system like that, you are going to have the kind of reaction that we saw at that time. So, like I said, there were many factors, including the one I just mentioned".
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2026/02/tinubu-is-re-engineering-nigeria-for-tomorrows-prosperity-sen-obanikoro/
