2027: Continuation of Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket threat to Nigeria’s security, coalition petitions US President, Congress
Yakubu Busari
A coalition of Christian groups and human rights defenders associations from the 36 states of the the country and the Federal Capital Territory ,Abuja have petitioned the President of the United States, the US Congress and diplomatic missions, warning that the continuation of a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket in the 2027 elections poses “the single gravest political threat to the safety of Christians in Nigeria.”
The petition was submitted by the Christian Youth Alliance of Nigeria, CYAN, and sent to journalists in Jos on Sunday, and was signed by the chairman , Zariyi Yusuf Madaki; Secretary ,Nasiru Jagaba, ; Luka Binniyat; Steven Kefas; Ier Jonathan-Ichaver; Apostle Michael Olowookere; and Emmanuel Zopmal, among others.
It was addressed to President Donald Trump and copied to the US Secretary of State, members of the US Senate and House of Representatives, and heads of diplomatic missions accredited to Nigeria.
The group said it was renewing its appeal for sustained American attention to what it described as “the deteriorating security of Christians in Nigeria.”
`”We commend the decision to redesignate Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), a step whose principal value so far has been to discredit propagandists who worked to portray murdered Christians as casualties of ordinary banditry, rather than what communities on the ground know them to be: targeted religious genocide,”` the petition read.
CYAN stated that the CPC designation “has, however, not stopped the killing,” citing the killing of “at least 30 Christians… in Naridon community in Kaduna State” just this week.
The coalition said a political decision unfolding in Abuja threatens to worsen the situation.
`”As we write today, a political decision unfolding in Abuja threatens to entrench and consolidate the Christian genocide in Nigeria. President Bola Tinubu’s retention of the Muslim-Muslim ticket in the upcoming 2027 election is, in our assessment, the single gravest political threat to the safety of Christians in Nigeria, particularly the northern region,”` it stated.
The group argued that the 2023 Tinubu-Shettima ticket “broke a long-standing convention under which the country’s two highest offices were shared across its religious divide.”
`”This is not just a symbolic grievance, but a palpable one which transcends politics and has led to Christian exclusion in Governance and in matters of faith. It has emboldened the Jihadist armed groups that already operate with impunity in Christian-dominated communities,”` the petition said.
It cited a 2023 video of former Kaduna Governor Nasir el-Rufai, whom it described as “the architect of the Muslim-Muslim ticket.”
`”Nasir el-Rufai… in 2023, was seen, in a video circulated broadly across Nigerian media, telling an audience of Islamic clerics that the Muslim-Muslim arrangement would endure and would silence the Christians in Nigeria… It illustrates precisely the political mentality we hereby ask to be repudiated,”` the coalition wrote.
The petition also referenced former Minister Isa Pantami, saying Nigeria’s political system “has been willing to elevate and tolerate” individuals who made extremist statements.
The group condemned the federal government’s policy of reintegrating “repentant terrorists.”
`”Under the current Muslim-Muslim Presidency, taxes collected from persecuted Christians are budgeted for the rehabilitation and reintegration of jihadists, so-called ‘repentant terrorists’, who are placed on Government payrolls, while Internally Displaced Persons (predominantly Christians) are left in ruins,”` it said.
CYAN also raised concerns over Nigeria’s lobbying in Washington, citing FARA filings.
`”We are also aware that the Nigerian government has retained international lobbying and public-relations firms since the CPC redesignation… In December 2025… a Kaduna law firm, Aster Legal, acting on behalf of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, retained the Washington public-affairs firm, DCI Group, under a contract reported at nine million dollars, purposely to expressly communicate Nigeria’s protection of Christian communities to American audiences,”` the petition stated.
The group added: `”We do not object to Nigeria defending its record; we ask only that Congress and the State Department do not allow paid narrative management in Washington to substitute for verified improvements on the ground in Nigeria. The test of progress should be the safety of Christian communities, not the polish, however well-financed, of Abuja’s messaging to American audiences.”`
The coalition made five requests. It urged that: `”The United States maintains Nigeria’s CPC status and conditions any relief on independently verified protection of Christian communities, not on the diplomatic or lobbying activity of the Nigerian
Government.”;”Congress and the State Department compel the Nigerian Government, publicly and privately, in view of the political and security risks of a same-faith presidential ticket ahead of the 2027 presidential election, to reflect the country’s religious diversity.”;”The policy of the reintegration of ‘repentant’ militants should be completely abolished; terrorists should be prosecuted and face the full wrath of the law.”; Specific massacres including `”the Christmas 2023 attacks across Bokkos, Barkin Ladi, and Mangu, and the June 2025 Yelwata massacre in Benue State”` should be subject to `”transparent, independently monitored investigation and prosecution.”` as well as `”Humanitarian assistance continues to reach displaced Christian communities in Southern Kaduna, Plateau, Benue, Taraba and other parts of the country directly, through channels that do not depend on the goodwill of the same state structures whose failures produced their displacement.”`
The petition also called on the US to investigate alleged interference by some Arab countries.
`”We urge you to employ your good offices to investigate reports that some Arab countries, particularly Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia, are meddling in Nigerian politics, by mounting pressure on the country to retain the Muslim-Muslim ticket in the forthcoming election in order to further subjugate Christians in Nigeria,”` it stated.
