A Muslim group on Sunday rose in defence of President Muhammadu Buhari who was accused of seeking to Islamise Nigeria by Ayo Fayose, governor of Ekiti state.
Fayose had said at a church service in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, on Saturday that Buhari’s recent trip to Saudi Arabia along with some top politicians was to map out ways of Islamising the country.
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), a pressure group headed by Ishaq Akintola, a professor, said in a press statement on Sunday that Fayose was suffering from “diarrhea of the mouth”.
“By making such a wild and untenable statement, Fayose has just emerged as the most idle executive governor Nigeria ever had,” Akintola said.
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“Even a ten-year old Nigerian child knows the reason for Buhari’s visit to Saudi Arabia. Turbulence in the price of oil has greatly impoverished Nigeria and Buhari is employing diplomacy to turn round our oil fortune.
“Playing pranks with Buhari’s visit to Saudi Arabia simply shows that Fayose has lost all sense of objectivity. Like a comedian governor and a court jester primus inter pares, Fayose prefers to cast a wicked joke with the fate of the Nigerian economy.
“But his attempt to whip up religious sentiment has failed woefully because Nigerians know that Fayose is a pathological liar, an unstable politician and an unreliable judge of men.”
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Akintola also said Fayose did not complain when former President Goodluck Jonathan regularly visited Jerusalem when he was in power.
“Nigerians should help us ask Fayose where he was when his erstwhile mentor and former President Jonathan turned Jerusalem to the back-yard of Aso Rock, shuttling between Nigeria and Israel with jet-loads of marabouts and arms money. Was Fayose’s mouth padlocked at that time?” he said.
Fayose had alleged: “They have started subtle moves to make Nigeria an Islamic nation, but God will stop them. This was done in 1984, it failed, it would fail again.
“Why did five of them go to Saudi Arabia to wait for our man there, if they don’t have agenda.
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“The agenda is coming small small, but we will resist it. Nigeria is a free nation where we proclaim the name of Jesus Christ freely, and we believe in Allah for those who are Muslims. This nation will not be taken for an Islamic nation.”
2 comments
In as much as I don’t agree with Fayose that Buhari is trying to make Nigeria an islamic county, the able islamic professor did not talk like a responsible man wear he talked about Jonathan flying to Israel with arms money. This just shows the kind of professors we produce in this country.
The issue of islamising Nigeria just seems a bit too farfetched in the presence of little real evidence. Whistle blowing at the slightest opportunity, like Fayose seems to be fond of, does not help matters.