‘I was isolated’: Remi Tinubu opens up on challenges faced over Muslim-Muslim ticket

Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has revealed that her husband’s choice to run on a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket during the 2023 elections left her feeling isolated in her own church and strained her faith.

Remi was ordained pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), one of Nigeria’s largest Pentecostal denominations, in 2018.

In her new memoir, “The Journey of Grace: Giving Thanks in All Things”, Mrs Tinubu described the episode as a “bitter pill” that created discord in her parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).

The 52-page book, released to mark her 65th birthday, chronicles her journey between 2021 and 2025.

Reflecting on the Muslim-Muslim ticket, she wrote: “One of such decisions was the unpopular ‘Muslim-Muslim ticket’. My being a Christian did not matter. My local assembly, Redeemed Christian Church of God, was split.”

The former Lagos Central senator recalled that church opposition was not new to her. During her 2011 senatorial campaign, she said her posters were rejected by the parish.

“I later realised that we are a church like other churches with members of all political parties in attendance. I experienced this during my campaign in 2011 for the senate, when I took my campaign posters to the church, and it was rebuffed. After that, I never tried again,” she explained.

Mrs. Tinubu noted that while some parishioners showed hostility, many elders and members supported her with prayers, which kept her steadfast in her faith.

But I kept attending church, and I thank God I have grown from being a baby to a mature Christian. So the little resentment I witnessed from a few was met with the peace of God.

“All the same, despite a few who showed hostility, many were encouraging, especially our elders, who would encourage me from time to time with prayers,” she wrote.

She expressed gratitude to her local assembly for standing by her, adding that many of them lived to witness her husband’s inauguration as president.

“To this end, I am grateful to God and everyone of them, especially those who lived to watch the presidential inauguration when the time came. I thank the pastorate also for making arrangements for them.

“I thank my local assembly because most of them made me feel welcome and comfortable enough to come to church whenever I was home from Abuja, where I was still serving as a senator representing Lagos central senatorial district.”