The Christian
Association of Nigeria in the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT) has accused the Chairman of Northern States Governors’ Forum
(NSGF) and Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, of causing disunity among
northerners.
According to the
association, there can never be unity in the north when leaders like the Niger
State governor openly discriminate against Christians while posing as champions
of northern unity.
Speaking through their
spokesman, Sunday Oibe, the Northern CAN said the allegation by the governor
that there were plots to cause disunity among northerners ahead of the 2015
general elections was a farce, insisting that Aliyu and some northern leaders
were the very people working against the unity of the region.
Oibe told a select
group of newsmen yesterday in Kaduna that the governor, who has suddenly become
the apostle of Northern unity, is the very person that is discriminating
against Christians in Niger State.
“The Niger State
governor should stop insinuating that some people are causing division in the
north. He is one of those causing the division with his discrimination against
Christians. If he truly wants northern unity, let him start by correcting the
imbalance in the political arrangement in Niger State.
“Before Aliyu became
the governor of Niger State, there used to be a Christian as deputy governor.
But when he became governor, he picked a Muslim as his deputy and the Speaker
of the Niger State House of Assembly is a Muslim, in spite of the fact there is
a large number of Christian population in the state.
“The governor does not
see the need to treat them (Christians) fairly and he is shamelessly preaching
northern unity when he is discriminating against the Christians in his own
state.
“He is the Chairman of
the Northern States Governors’ Forum who is gallivanting and talking about
northern unity, forgetting that he is one of those working against the unity of
the north.
“How can we be talking
about one north and northern unity when people in leadership position openly
discriminate against Christians? These so-called leaders are the ones
causing division in the north. Let them go and find out how the late Premier of
the defunct Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sarduana of Sokoto, worked
together with people like the late Sunday Awoniyi, the late Ambassador Jolly
Tanko Yusuf and several other Christians with their religious and political
differences,” the CAN spokesman said.
According to him, “a
north that is purely for Islam is not the type of north that we want to talk
together. It is difficult for northern Christians to speak with one voice for a
north that some people see as purely for Muslims. It is not the north that we
can talk about unity because every Middle Belter today is not seen as a northerner
and Middle Belters don’t see themselves as northerners. So, when they talk
about the north, they are talking about Hausa Fulani Muslims. They are not
talking about other ethnic groups.”
Oibe noted that “in
Kaduna State alone, we have about 53 different ethnic groups in the southern
part of the state and Hausa/Fulani are just two of these, yet we have a vice
president who is a Muslim and whose majority of his appointees are Hausa/Fulani
Muslims.”
The Northern CAN
spokesman asked, “How can people be talking about the spirit of northern unity
with this glaring discrimination we see everywhere in the north? I believe that
President Goodluck Jonathan now knows better and nobody can deceive or mislead
him in any way.”
He revealed that the
north is fragmented and nobody should be deceived about the idea of one north
any longer.
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