SPECIAL REPORT: Flashback to Christian Elders’ misleading sentiments, how they reacted to Sultan’s unity call in 2016

…plus George Udom submission that neutralise NCEF, CAN allegations

By OGUNDERO KADIRI ALOME

NCEF, after several attempt to make Christianity a dominant faith of Nigeria failed, resorted to wanting to back complete neutralisation of Godliness from the affairs of Nigeria in what was believed as to say “if it cannot be Christianisation then it must not be Islamisation.”

Tomorrow Wednesday August 24, 2022 will be exactly six years that Christian elders in Nigeria made a counter to the call by Sultan of Sokoto, in his capacity as Leader of Muslim Ummah of Nigeria, for people to stop agitating over the inexistence Islamisation agenda and describing Nigeria as more obviously and realistically a multi-religious and not a secular state.

Precisely on August 24, 2016, the National Christian Elders’ Forum (NCEF), which was at that time in coalition with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the duo’s constant response to ensuring the barely one year old administration of a Muslim, Northern President they had campaigned not to be voted for during the 2015 election, had reacted to comments by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, that Nigeria is a multi-religious nation, saying the claim was against constitutional provisions. Ref: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/209247-christian-elders-to-sultan-nigeria-being-run-like-islamic-country/

Six years later, it can be said that although a sitting Nigerian Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN), trying to disprove Christian leaders anti Muslim-Muslim ticket of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates, said the law of Nigeria does not allow any religion to be adopted as state region, describing Nigeria in that stead as a secular state.

Keyamo meant neither to hurt more take side with his Christian Church leaders postulations but to try to let them know why not only it is impossible to Islamise Nigeria as unnecessarily being insinuated by them but also the Muslim-Muslim ticket is of no issue to the wellbeing of Muslims and Christians in the country.

The NCEF, that time, had also said Muslim leaders had in past and present times made deliberate steps towards Islamising Nigeria, an allegation unfolding events have continued to prove as fallacy only for the Christian leaders to be exactly involved in what they insinuated about Muslim leaders.

With several facts now successfully pushed to the public domain by Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) and some other emerging Muslim bodies, it is now officially known that whenever Christian leaders in the country scream over a yet-to-be-seen Islamisation and Northernisation Agenda, they are indeed the ones who are, of a surety, making such plans to Christianise and Westernise by the evident forceful manner by which their agents in public service and establishments subject Muslims to having to suffer and fight albeit through the rigorous legal means to get what divinely and constitutionally belong to them as rights.

It will be recalled Sultan Abubakar had said that Nigeria was not a secular nation but multi-religious entity that cannot be Islamised.

“We are not secular but a multi-religious state because the people are so religious. We must respect one another and understand the tenets of the two religions,” he had said.

In a statement made available to journalists on the following Wednesday August 24, 2016, Chairman of the National Christian Elders’ Forum (NCEF), Solomon Asemota, said Nigeria’s Constitution provides that the country is a secular state.

The statement said Alhaji Abubakar’s comments appeared to imply that Nigeria was made up of two religions “until Islam dominates to become de facto and de jure religion of Nigeria”.

Asemota continued, “The Constitution which forms the basis, upon which our founding fathers agreed to live together as a country, provides under Section 10 that ‘the Government of the Federation or of a State shall not adopt any religion as State Religion’.”

NCEF, after several attempt to make Christianity a dominant faith of Nigeria failed, resorted to wanting to back complete neutralisation of Godliness from the affairs of Nigeria in what was believed as to say “if it cannot be Christianisation then it must not be Islamisation.”

NCEF and CAN, undisputably active bodies of faith, having to lead in things that tend to fight religion and Godliness while l they themselves would stop at no time to play their overriding religious role to the deprivations of mainly adherents of Islamic faith in the country has this continued to be exposed as the most hypocritic thing that can happen by any faith group.

In South West Nigeria, there have been cases where these Christian leaders would stool so low to be complacent with unconstitutionality that occultists like Oro practitioners do to affect any believer in God as singular owner of creation and only who is worthy of worship and not idols of any kind.

Against what obtained during the earlier empire system where Persia, Rome and Islam ruled the world, when the Islamic World Army would be commanded by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to stand with and fight on the side of Rome (Christian World) in idolatry Persia-instigated war because he said Christians are nearer to Muslims in faith, the Christian leaders of Nigeria would rather stand with and fight on the side of Muslims because of their intolerance and hatred for Islam and Muslims especially the region in the country where Muslims are predominant.

It was to this extent of this reality of hate that NCEF would go ahead, thinking it was countering the Sultan, to say, “Nigeria has multi-cultural and multi-religious communities, tribes, ethnic nationalities but one nation. It is correctly assumed that in the interest of peace and justice, the Constitution in Section 10 PROHIBITS the State from Religious participation by way of recognizing one and two religions.

“The Sultan’s interpretation, we submit, is intended to justify Islam and Christianity as State religions until Islam dominates to become de facto and de jure religion of Nigeria,” the statement said.

The statement defined secular as referring to things “not connected with spiritual or religious matters”, that coming from acclaimed religious body of Christian elders.

The NCEF said Muslim leaders had in past and present times made deliberate steps towards Islamising Nigeria.

“We respectfully disagree with the Sultan ‘that it is not possible to Islamize Nigeria. By taking Nigeria into the OIC in 1986, Military Dictator, Ibrahim Babangida, officially turned Nigeria into an Islamic State.

“The Charter of OIC concerning membership stipulates that a country should, first and foremost, be persuaded that it is an Islamic nation before it can apply for membership. Simply by the act of the application for OIC membership, Babangida tampered with the secularity of the Nigerian State. That unilateral decision should be reviewed because it violates Section 10 of the Constitution,” said Mr. Asemota.

It will be recalled that the NCEF, to the extent of standing with all evils so long they are directed at Islam, Muslims or Northern Nigeria, used the statement to condemn the arrest of Joe Chinakwe for naming his dog “Buhari” in disrespect of the President of the country, describing the act as another attempt to instill fear in the minds ordinary Nigerians.

“Chinakwe was picked up again based on Police belief that the suspect’s action was capable of provoking an ethno-religious crisis. Because the complainant and his group have threatened to kill him if he comes back and this may happen.

“If Nigeria is being run as a secular State, the Constitution in Sections 10, 37, and 38 guarantees right of private and family life, freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion that should protect Joe Chinakwe and the Complainant would have been arrested but because Nigeria is an Islamic State, Joe Chinakwe has to face trial in the process promoting; the most effective way to get rid of critics is to instill fear in ordinary Nigerians,” the Christian elders working in cahoots with Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said.

Six years after,a fellow Christian in the name George Udom and Southern Nigerian, in a submission stumbled upon Monday August 22, 2022 and is obviously confirmed to be fact-based, has neutralised the misinformation of the Christian leaders by telling them how the religious bigotry they tended to tag on Muslims and Northerners did not start from the North.

With titled, “The issue of Religious Bigotry did not start from the North”, George Udom said:

“Let’s go back to 1962, when a Northern Muslim, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa registered Nigeria as a member of the World Council of Churches and International Bible Society in 1963, no complain from the Muslim North.

“Saturday was a working day in Nigeria until 1973, Gowon, a Christian minority from the North declared it a work free day, to enable the Seventh Day Adventist Church to worship, no complain from the Muslim North.

“In February 1979, Olusegun Obasanjo denied Ahmed Deedat, an Islamic Preacher, entry into Nigeria, no complain from the Muslim North.

“In 1982 pope John Paul II was welcomed to Nigeria by a Muslim, Alhaji Shehu Shagari.

“Reinhart Bonke, a Christian Crusader, had a free entrance to Nigeria at will, no complain.

“Abacha welcomed Pope John Paul and established Papal Square along Kubwa express way, no complain from Muslims.

“But in 1986 when Babangida registered Nigeria as a member of the Organization of Islamic Conference….”

With these all listed out, an inference is possible that Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and National Christian Elders’ Forum (NCEF), of which the same Zamani Lekwot, who still has on himself the blood of Muslims he was alleged to have led their genocide in Zango Kattaf, Southern Kaduna, as a serving Army officer, is a member, need to watch out for truth and facts before they dish out unverifiable information about the state of the nation next time.