Muslim Leaders Visit Goodluck Over Marginalisation At Natl Confab

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.”

CKN NEWS

Chris Kehinde Nwandu is the Editor In Chief of CKNNEWS || He is a Law graduate and an Alumnus of Lagos State University, Lead City University Ibadan and Nigerian Institute Of Journalism || With over 2 decades practice in Journalism, PR and Advertising, he is a member of several Professional bodies within and outside Nigeria || Member: Institute Of Chartered Arbitrators ( UK ) || Member : Institute of Chartered Mediators And Conciliation || Member : Nigerian Institute Of Public Relations || Member : Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria || Fellow : Institute of Personality Development And Customer Relationship Management || Member and Chairman Board Of Trustees: Guild Of Professional Bloggers of Nigeria

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