Governor Nasir El-Rufai has said that regardless of who he chooses as his deputy, the Christians in Southern Kaduna will still not vote him as governor in the coming polls.

El-Rufai stated this on Channel’s Television’s Sunrise Daily while reacting to questions about his choice of a Muslim as his running mate for the next gubernatorial election in Kaduna.

The governor said, “What if I tell you that no matter who I choose as my running mate, even if I choose the Pope, 67 per cent of the Christians in Southern Kaduna have made up their minds that they will never vote for me”.

According to El-Rufai, his choice of Hadiza Balarabe as a running mate is politically motivated.

He said, “I am a politician, so everything I do is politically motivated”.

El-Rufai said he has chosen anyone based on ethnic or religious bias, urging Nigerians to go beyond these prejudices in the best interest of the nation.

The governor went on to say that for him, the issue is that Kaduna state is divided and needs to be united and the only way to this is to take “religion and ethnicity off the table”.

El-Rufai also reacted to the case of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen at the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

Speaking on polity in Kaduna and Nigeria as a whole, El-Rufai said it is time Nigerian leaders and people are reflective in decisions, rather than operate on ethnic or religious biases.

In the case of Onnoghen, the Kaduna state governor said the position taken by governors of the South-south is disheartening.

He said, “One of the most painful things I have experienced in the last two weeks, was the statement by the governors of the South-south, justifying that non-declaration of assets is nothing, is a non-issue because the Chief Justice of Nigeria is from the South-South”.

The governor argued that “wrong is wrong and right should be right”, and as such, leaders should advise that we can’t do it all the time, sometimes it’s not black and white, it’s a bit of grey, but we must stand for something that is right”.