A coalition of Islamic organisations has said that the recent calls by some Christian leaderships that the next president of Nigeria must be a Christian is both arrogant and disturbing.
The coalition said this at the Annual Pre-Ramadan Conference of the Supreme Council for Shari’ah (SCSN) held on March 19 in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.
Themed, ‘State of the Nation: A Prognosis by the Muslim Ummah’, the event which drew massive participants comprising leading Islamic scholars, Imams, traditional rulers, judges and academics was chaired by the Asiwaju Musulumi of Yoruba land, Edo and Delta, Chief Tunde Badmus.
According to the coalition, “The Muslim majority in southwest (4 largest states) and the north (17 states out of 19) paved the way for Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan to be presidents.”
They welcomed the declaration of presidential aspirations by notable Muslims in the southwest, saying, “It will redress the injustice to the Muslim majority in the region, who have been marginalized by the Christian minority to political irrelevance; with control of political power at regional and national levels from Awolowo, Akintola, Dr. Majekodunmi, Gen. Adebayo, Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief. Ernest Shonekan, Oladipo Diya, all Christians, taking advantage of the silent Muslim majority.”
“For decades, the political benevolence of the Muslim majority has not been appreciated or reciprocated by Christians in the country. For instance, the Muslim majority in states like Gombe, Kaduna, Nassarawa, Kogi, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, and Lagos have been sharing political power with their Christian minority counterparts; while on the other hand, Muslims have been unfairly and completely denied both economic and political power in states like Ekiti, Ondo, Plateau, with the worst case being Taraba State, where a Muslim majority (70%) have now been completely marginalised,” the coalition added.
“Despite the existence of Islam in Yorubaland since the 14th century and the undisputable numerical majority of Muslims in the southwest, for decades since independence, the Christian minority has relegated them to a symbolic minority through perpetual and systematic exclusion and vilification. It is a brazen, awkward, and unacceptable situation that in the 21st century, faith is still the major factor that shapes opportunities and acceptability in this region.”
The coalition meanwhile charged Muslims to leverage on their dense network to silence the arrogant calls by some Christian leaderships through getting Muslims everywhere, especially the youths, to register before the end of the current Continuous Voter’s Registration.
“Since democracy is a game of numbers, Muslim leaders, the Ulamah, Imams and Muslim organisations should even more importantly address the issue of voter apathy.”
It was also noted at the meeting that the country is going through turbulent times characterised by escalating level of insecurity and excruciating economic hardship.
“Although the current administration inherited some of these challenges and has made notable efforts in decimating the Boko Haram and Niger-Delta insurgency, and even initiated several social safety net programmes to alleviate suffering; the situation requires more aggressive and concerted efforts by the government and the people to achieve success.”
Muslims were urged to take advantage of the holy month of Ramadan to pray for the country, seek Allah’s forgiveness, grace, benevolence, protection and guidance to the straight path, just as SCSN expressed gratitude to the Osun State Governor, Alhaji Ishaq Gboyega Oyetola for hosting the event.
SCSN also expressed displeasure at what it called mischievous misrepresentation in the print and social media that deliberately created a false impression that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was in attendance and even made a call on the Council to establish a political department.
“The call was actually made by the chairman of the programme, Asiwaju Musulumi of Yoruba land, Edo and Delta, Chief Tunde Badmus,” it clarified.