My attention has been drawn to an interview granted by one Adebayo Oladeji, special assistant to the CAN president on media and communication, published on page 9 of the Punch newspapers of the 11th of December 2020, under the heading “Religious Rights Violations: CAN, SOKUPU back US”, by Friday Olokor.
In the said interview, Mr. Oladeji recycled old unsubstantiated and bogus claims about how Christians have been allegedly mistreated in Nigeria, obviously in a fertile but futile attempt to justify religious rights violations in Nigeria and to satisfy his pay masters.
His claims are not only shocking but self-contradictory haven initially disagreed with the position of the US government on the alleged rights violations.
To begin with, the US government blacklisted Nigeria on alleged RELIGIOUS rights violations, not CHRISTIANS’ rights violations. It is important that we make this clarification, so that the reader is not misled by the rhetoric of CAN. If CAN was sincere, it would have pointed out rights violations across religious divide. In fact, Muslims have for many years being on the receiving end of rights violations in the hands of their compatriots, but which they have borne with philosophical calmness.
CAN stated in the said publication that CofOs are refused Christian bodies for the construction of religious houses, especially in Northern Nigeria. This allegation is not only false; it is irresponsible, hypocritical and unfair. This is because there are numerous examples of mega churches in Muslim dominate states with valid CofOs. A case in point is the catholic diocese of Sokoto which has its headquarter not just in the state capital but opposite the seat of the caliphate, where the leader of the Muslims and Sultan of Sokoto lives, with a valid CofO issued by a Muslim governor in Sokoto state. Conversely, Muslims in the South have for many decades been denied the acquisition of land for the construction of Mosque. In some cases, CofOs are revoked and Mosques bulldozed down. A case in point is the demolition of the only Mosque in the University of Science and Technology by the Rivers State government in April 2005. The Muslim students litigated the matter at the federal high court and secured a judgment in its favour, which the government appealed at the appellate court. At the appellate court sitting in Port Harcourt, the court also ruled in favour of the Muslims adding that the state government acted ultra-vires by demolishing the only Mosque in the campus. The Rivers State government has again appealed the judgment at the Supreme Court.
Similarly, many state governments in the South-South, South-West and South-East outlawed the use of Hijab by female Muslims students in flagrant violation of the constitution. Some of the states were forced to change their position only after their unpopular and unconstitutional pronouncements were tested and thrown out by courts of competent jurisdiction in the said states.
Another claim by CAN is to the effect that all security chiefs are from the religion of the president. We wish to advise CAN not to give religious rights violations interpretations to security matters. We would also love to remind CAN that ex-president Good Luck Jonathan appointed an all Christian security chiefs during his administration and it is on record that the NSCIA, the umbrella body of all Muslims in the country did not raise any objection to it. Alex Badeh was appointed Chief of Defence Staff, Kenneth Minimah as Chief of Army Staff, Adesola Amosu as Chief of Air Staff, Dele Joseph Ezeoba as Chief of Naval Staff and Solomon Arase as Inspector General of Police in 2005.
Obviously not done with its well choreographed and orchestrated campaign of calumny, demonization and criminalization of Muslims and colluding with foreign powers to tarnish the reputation of our dear country, CAN went on to allege that Christians are denied opportunity to become Vice Chancellors of both federal and state universities in Nigeria, citing the university of Ilorin as an example. For the records, between 1978 – 1997, no Muslims was made the VC of the university despite the fact that Muslims are in majority. In fact, the case of the University of Ibadan is even worse. Since the establishment of the university in 1948 till date, no Muslim has been made the VC of the university.
I would love to advise CAN to always cross check it facts before rushing to the media to avoid plunging the nation into a religious crisis.
Source: Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA)
