The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has told the Christian
Association of Nigeria, CAN, that it is not yet the turn of a Christian to be
the President of Nigeria.
MURIC said it was depending on mathematical exactitude from
the time Nigeria began civil rule in 1999 to drive home its argument.
The group was reacting to a recent statement by CAN in which
the leading Christian association called for a Christian president for Nigeria
by 2023.
In a statement signed by its Director and Founder, Professor
Ishaq Akintola, on Monday, MURIC said while it is not opposed to the idea of a
Christian president for Nigeria, CAN must wait for its turn.
“We believe that it is not yet the turn of a Christian to be
the President of Nigeria if we want to go by mathematical exactitude from the
time Nigeria began civil rule in 1999,” the group added.
“Chief Mathew Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian, spent eight
(8) years as president (1999 – 2007). Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan also spent
five (5) years (5th May, 2010 – 29th May, 2015). That brings the total spent by
Christian presidents in Aso Rock to thirteen (13) years.
“Meanwhile Alhaji Musa Yaradua, a Muslim, spent three (3)
years as president and the incumbent, President Muhammadu Buhari, will be
completing his eighth year in office by the good Grace of Allah on 29th May,
2023. By simple arithmetic, this will bring the total spent by the two Muslim
presidents to eleven (11) years.
“MURIC is being generous, otherwise it would have towed the
line of those who argue that Jonathan spent six (6) years and that will bring
the total number of years spent by Christians to fourteen (14). In the same
vein, we would have supported those who said Yaradua spent just two (2) years
and that would have reduced the number of years spent by Muslims in power to
ten (10) years.
“Muslims will be shortchanged by two or four years if a
Christian becomes president in 2023. The ideal thing is to allow another Muslim
to spend only one term from 2023 to 2027. There will be no doubt about who
takes the reins of power from 2007 because a Christian must be installed as
president at that time. All controversies would have been removed but there is
controversy now.
“For the avoidance of doubts, we reiterate our readiness to
accept a Christian as president but it must be at the right time. It will be
unfair to install a Christian president in 2023 when Muslims still have a
shortfall of two or four years. It is the group that has a two-year or
four-year shortfall that should be given the chance for a make-up, not the
group that has a two-year advantage.
“We advise CAN to wait for its own time and to stop heating
up the polity with untimely demands. CAN should also take a retrospective look
at its attitude towards the incumbent since 2015 when a Christian president
left the stage. Nigerians are already comparing CAN’s weekly visits to Aso Rock
in the days of Jonathan, a Christian president, to turn on the tap of gold and
its extremely hostile stance to the incumbent, a Muslim president, since 2015.
We really sympathise with CAN but facts are sacred. Figures and dates are
sacrosanct.”
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