Nigeria’s Muslim human rights group, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), says it is not yet time for a Christian to be President in Nigeria. The group said this in reaction to a recent statement issued by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in which it called for a Christian president for Nigeria by 2023.
In a statement signed by its director and founder, Professor Ishaq Akintola, on Monday and made available to NewsWireNGR, MURIC said while it is not opposed to the idea of a Christian president forNigeria, CAN must wait for its turn.
The full statement reads:
“The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) last week demanded a Christian president come 2023; but 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 timeNigeria began civil rule in 1999.
“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 thetotal spent by Christian presidents in Aso Rock to thirteen (13) years.
“Meanwhile Alhaji Musa Yaradua, a Muslim, spent three (3) years aspresident and the incumbent, President Muhammadu Buhari, will be completing hiseighth year in office by the good Grace of Allah on 29th May, 2023. Bysimple arithmetic, this will bring the total spent by the two Muslim presidentsto eleven (11) years.
“MURIC is being generous, otherwise it would have towed the line ofthose who argue that Jonathan spent six (6) years and that will bring the totalnumber of years spent by Christians to fourteen (14). In the same vein, wewould have supported those who said Yaradua spent just two (2) years and thatwould 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 Christianbecomes president in 2023. The ideal thing is to allow another Muslim to spendonly one term from 2023 to 2027. There will be no doubt about who takes the reinsof power from 2007 because a Christian must be installed as president at thattime. All controversies would have been removed but there is controversy now.
“For the avoidance of doubts, we reiterate our readiness to accept aChristian as president but it must be at the right time. It will be unfair toinstall a Christian president in 2023 when Muslims still have a shortfall oftwo or four years. It is the group that has a two-year or four-year shortfallthat should be given the chance for a make-up, not the group that has atwo-year advantage.
“We advise CAN to wait for its own time and to stop heating up thepolity with untimely demands. CAN should also take a retrospective look at itsattitude towards the incumbent since 2015 when a Christian president left thestage. Nigerians are already comparing CAN’s weekly visits to Aso Rock in thedays of Jonathan, a Christian president, to turn on the tap of gold and its extremelyhostile stance to the incumbent, a Muslim president, since 2015. We reallysympathise with CAN but facts are sacred. Figures and dates are sacrosanct.”
