How FG dismissed CAN over SUKUK, warned it to stop misleading its followers, overheating the polity

Speaking in a press interview, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, also enjoined the leadership of the Christian body to do a research on what SUKUK bond means before jumping to the conclusion that it is meant to islamise the country through the back door.  “I think they should find out more about what SUKUK means. If they know what SUKUK means, I am sure they will not be making this allegation. In Europe and America, most of the infrastructures there were actually financed by SUKUK bonds. SUKUK is very simple, it is about financial inclusiveness. The ethical values of some people will not allow them to invest in bonds that will yield interests, SUKUK does not yield interest”.

The clear involvement of great nations like United Kingdom in patronage of Islamic finance through loan taking and others should anticipatedly put every heart at rest with SUKUK. The European and Western societies believe that Islamic finance due to its uncompromising interest free nature, discipline and equity is the best to heal so many of the economic ailments in the global economy and so they make no pretensions or sentiments about it as they throw their doors open for Islamic finance and banking to thrive in their Christian-dimunated societies.

But in Nigeria, each time a mention of anything Islamic is mentioned, there is always an organisation of people who claim to represent the Christians of Nigeria, CAN, and who would always rise to say “over our dead body.” They do this with impunity and with pride and in most cases assisted by select media without even trying to oblige their listeners with details of reasons they are doing so. As far as they are concerned, however, it is not whether there is cogent reason for kicking against it but for the mere fact that it must not happen on the soil of Nigeria, forgetting that as they freely exercise their rights to religious practice by way of association, utterances and worship, they are by their many obvious attempts to block the way of anything Islam – even when it is done in Muslim dominated Northern Nigeria – infringing without care, too, on the rights of some well over 90 million Muslims in the country to their own religious practice also by way of association, utterances and worship.

Investigations revealed that quite a number of South East states of Nigeria, which went far above the misleading sentiment sold to them by CAN’s definition of Islamic finance as an Islamisation process, already embraced the Islamic finance as they are currently enjoying the interest free loans from the SUKUK system. In the South West of the country also, Osun State’s miraculous rebounce back from economic shambles the immediate past government plunged the country into has been traced to its free mindedness with Islamic finance that it got from SUKUK. CAN raised no criticism on South East states loans from SUKUK but earlier before that, it did many unspeakable things to drag Osun State in the mud for venturing into it.

The hypocrisy of CAN reached its peak lately when, after it kept silence over patronage of SUKUK by South East, it now resumed its attacks when the Federal Government announced that it had engaged in a N100 billion bond from SUKUK.

But this time having exercised patience and close studies of the CAN’s attitude for long, the Federal Government on Monday 18th September 2017 broke its silence as it advised the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to stop misleading its members and overheating the polity through false alarm of alleged Islamisation of the country.

Speaking in a press interview in Lagos, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, also enjoined the leadership of the Christian body to do a research on what SUKUK bond means before jumping to the conclusion that it is meant to islamise the country through the back door.

Acording to the minister, “I think they should find out more about what SUKUK means. If they know what SUKUK means, I am sure they will not be making this allegation. In Europe and America, most of the infrastructures there were actually financed by SUKUK bonds. SUKUK is very simple, it is about financial inclusiveness. The ethical values of some people will not allow them to invest in bonds that will yield interests, SUKUK does not yield interest”.

“This allegation of wanting to Islamise Nigeria is becoming a big joke now. How can you say the attempt to raise SUKUK bond is an attempt to islamise you? We should concentrate our energies on things that will unite us and not on things that will divide us. We should eliminate this air of mutual suspicion and distrust”.

“Do they know that at a point in time, Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala was a director of Islamic bank? I think all these attempt to divide Nigeria along religious lines should stop. We are looking for money to develop our infrastructure. Other parts of the world that are even more Christian than us are taking advantage of SUKUK bond”.

“I think CAN should stop misleading their followership and stop overheating the polity” the minister said.