The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, on Wednesday led some
prominent Muslims in the country to the Presidential Villa, Abuja to protest
what they called their marginalisation.
At a closed-door meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice
-President Namadi Sambo and a few top government officials, the Sultan and the
other muslim leaders specifically faulted the composition of the national
conference , saying it was skewed against them.
Their protest took place just as the delegates to the
conference again failed on Wednesday to agree on what
constituted a majority in taking decisions on issues.
The Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic
Affairs Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed to State House
correspondents that the Sultan and his team made their grievances known
when they met with Jonathan for about an hour in the Presidential
Villa, Abuja.
Oloyede however said the President assured the delegation that his
administration was committed to being fair to all Nigerians irrespective
of their religion or tribe.
He said that Jonathan asked members of the delegation to convey
his message to all Muslims in the country that even if there were
issues not taken care of , they were not done
deliberately.
Oloyede said while they would believe the President, members of the delegation
also held the belief that it was proper for them to protest to
Jonathan.
He said, “We came to discuss with the President
and we are happy we consulted him, and he has given us reasons to
re-assure Muslims that they are not deliberately marginalised
and he has asked us to convey the feelings of the government, the genuineness
of the government and the fairness of the government to the entire
populace.
“He said that if there were issues that were not as they ought to be,
they were not definitely deliberate and we want to believe that Mr. President
told us his mind; but we also want to believe that it is proper to
protest, it is also proper to assume that a leader will always be just even if
there are mistakes thereafter.
“We just felt that we must convey the feelings of the Muslims in Nigeria
to Mr. President and he has given us his words to re-assure the Muslim
community that he is a genuine and committed Christian who will not be unjust
to others.”
When asked to be specific on some of the feelings the Muslims conveyed
to the President, Oloyede mentioned the composition of the ongoing national
conference.
“May be because you are not a muslim, if you were one, you
would know the feelings of the Muslims presently about the composition of the
National Conference,” he concluded.
The Sultan declined to speak with journalists at the end of
the meeting.
Those who accompanied him included the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji
Abubakar Ibn-Garbai; a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Lawal Uwais; and a
former Head of Service of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed.
It will be recalled that JNI, the apex body for Islamic
organisations in the North, had recently accused Jonathan of having
a hidden agenda with the convocation of the National Conference.
The Sultan –led JNI had regretted that despite
the concerns expressed by well-meaning Nigerians, the President had gone
ahead to inaugurate the conference.
It also said that Muslims were short-changed in the selection of
delegates to the conference.
Before the Sultan and his team met with Jonathan,
JNI’s Secretary-General, Dr. Khalid Aliyu, at a news conference on Wednesday in
Kaduna, said no amount of conferences would solve the myriad of problems
confronting Nigeria, except “when our leaders lead with justice and equity in
the country.”
He said the process of selecting delegates to the conference
negated the spirit of democracy as majority of delegates to the
conference were Christians.
According to him, 62 per cent of the delegates to the conference are
Christians while the remaining percentage is shared by Muslims and other
religions in the land.
The Secretary-General said that of specific concern to the JNI was the
representation of the security experts in the conference, noting that out of
the 18 experts, only 22.2 per cent were Muslims.
He said, “What is most disturbing is that the Muslim leadership
and Islamic groups have called the attention of the President to this
matter but he has paid no attention to it.
“Let me comment on the conference, which the Federal Government has
convened. It is on record that many Nigerians, including the leadership of the
muslim community in the country, have expressed various concerns regarding
it. Nigerians have warned that the conference is ill-timed given that
electioneering is about to begin. Even with all these cries, the conveners have
gone ahead to host the conference.
“We are however worried that the process of selecting participants to
the conference has been observed to have thrown away all known dictates of fair
representation in a democracy, which will no doubt affect the credibility of
the outcome of the conference. Although, democracy is a game of number, this
has not been respected.
“We find it a great disregard and disrespect to the conscience of
the Muslims that of the 20 delegates of the Federal Government, only six are
Muslims. No Muslim is deemed fit to make the list of the Nigerian Economic
Summit
“In fact, in the representation of the security agencies, Muslims have
been so unimaginably short-changed with only one Muslim out of the six
retired military and security personnel.”
Tags
Politics