Nigeria’s First Lady, Remi Tinubu, has stirred up fresh debate on the global stage after vehemently defending her husband’s Muslim-Muslim ticket during a high-profile visit to the United States.
Speaking to The Free Press, the RCCG pastor did not mince words as she justified President Bola Tinubu’s 2023 same-faith decision as a numbers game.
“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,” she added.
Her declarations are already generating debates across Nigeria’s religious landscape, where the same-faith ticket triggered intense opposition during the last election cycle.
But the First Lady insists she remains a bridge between both faiths inside the corridors of power.
“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., said her trip was also aimed at countering narratives making the rounds online.
She stated that she travelled to “make some clarifications about recent hype on social media that there is Christian genocide.”
In a separate interview with The Hill, she went further, insisting that “global concern about persecution of Christians in the country is based on ‘propaganda.’”
Despite dismissing genocide claims, the First Lady called for stronger U.S. military action against terrorists and bandits operating in northern Nigeria, hailing the Christmas Day strikes ordered by President Donald Trump as a “blessing” to the West African nation.
