By Folorunso Alagbede, Abuja
A political pressure group, the Democratic Reformers has advised the Director of the Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, Prof Ishaq Akintola against the exploitation of religion to achieve a partisan political objective.
The group specifically frowned at a statement credited to Prof Akintola to the effect that the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and other Christian southern political figures be ruled out of consideration in the 2023 presidential contest on the basis of their faith.
The Democratic Reformers gave the advice in a statement yesterday by its
South West Coordinator, Mr. Mukaila Olalekan.
The group told the Director of MURIC that his statement was capable of
putting Nigeria’s stability and harmony in peril with inflammatory comments and tenuous arguments that seek to drive a wedge between a group of people who otherwise consider and relate with one another as a collective, united by common ancestry and other deep familial ties.
Prof Akintola was quoted as saying, “We will like the Vice President to know that it is not his turn yet. Neither is it the turn of any other Christian from the South West.
“This is because three Yoruba Christians (Obasanjo (Olusegun Obasanjo), Shonekan (late Chief Ernest Shonekan), and Osinbajo (Prof Yemi Osinbajo) himself) have occupied the presidency, whereas no single Yoruba Muslim has been either military head of state, President or Vice President of Nigeria”.
However, the Democratic Reformers, in its statement, frowned at such divisive exploitation, accusing him (Akintola) of
“putting Nigeria’s stability and harmony in peril with inflammatory comments and tenuous arguments that seek to drive a wedge between a group of people who otherwise consider and relate with one another as a collective, united by common ancestry and other deep familial ties”.
Continuing, the group said: “It is neither surprising nor unexpected that as 2023 draws nearer, we will witness the implementation of desperate measures designed to politically engineer social divisions amongst our people by those who believe that such divisive tactics would serve their interests.
“We are however disappointed that MURIC has joined this cohort with an incautious exploitation of religion, as displayed in its recent statement demanding the exclusion of Christian southerners from the 2023 Presidential race.”
“MURIC in the statement corroborated Prof. Yemi Osinbajo’s commendable religious tolerance and bold pursuit of inclusion. It highlighted his unflinching loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari, particularly in moments of political vulnerability when an otherwise power-hungry and scheming deputy would have staged a mutiny.”
“However, in spite of these leadership traits affirmed by MURIC itself, the association still went on to submit that he, and other Christians from the South, be denied a chance to lead the country. “Its reason for this was based on a half-baked analogy that the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo and the brief leadership of the recently deceased Ernest Shonekan had somehow conferred certain benefits on all Yoruba Christians that must now be equalized.”
“Even with the greatest of sympathy for MURIC’s confusing grievance, it is hard to see the logic of such a position. It amounts to an oversimplification, if not downright nonsensical, to suggest that the private faith of an occupant of a public office – in a country like Nigeria with deliberate constitutional protections for beliefs and conscience – awards disproportionate advantage to all citizens who profess similar faith.”
“Besides, the position pokes a gaping hole in MURIC’s other rash assertion that Muslims in the South West are subjected to an unfair treatment similar to the oppressed Blacks during South Africa’s brutal apartheid regime.
“ How could this be so when all South Western states since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999 have all been governed by very public Muslims on multiple occasions?
