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By Sunday Ani
A group, Christian Rights Nigeria, has raised the alarm over what it termed surreptitious moves by the leadership of the Lagos State House of Assembly to cause religious disharmony in the state.
Its National Lead, Pastor Eliashib James, in a statement, yesterday, accused the House leadership of secret moves to stoke the fire of religious tension in the state.
The group alleged that the plan was being spearheaded by the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) under the leadership of Prof. Ishaq Akintola.
This is coming on the heels of Wednesday’s rejection of 17 of the 39 commissioner-nominees Governor Sanwo-Olu submitted to the House. During plenary presided by the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, the House confirmed 22 of the nominees and rejected 17 others, including those that served during the governor’s first term in office.
Prior to the statement by the Christian group, there had been insinuations in some quarters that the nominees were rejected because they lost to the opposition during the last general elections in their various constituencies.
However, the Christian group pointedly accused MURIC of painting a picture that Christians outnumber Muslims in the Lagos State government, an allegation the group said was religious blackmail as it insisted there were actually more Muslims than Christians in the Lagos State government.
Part of the statement read: “We have watched in utter amazement the unfolding drama at the Lagos State House of Assembly where surreptitious moves are being made by the House leadership to stoke religious tension in Lagos State. Egged on by a right wing extremist religious group, known as Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) of one Prof. Ishaq Akintola, the House of Assembly has manifested this by its rejection of a number of commissioner nominees in the state.
“We state without any equivocation that this is pure religious blackmail, as contrary to the MURIC’s propaganda, which the House of Assembly latched onto, there are more Muslims in the government of Lagos State than Christians. For example, starting from the House of Assembly, there are more Muslims than Christians in the 40 elected members of the 10th Lagos Assembly.”
The group also revealed that among the 57 chairmen of local government areas and local council development areas, there was the preponderance of Muslims over Christians.
It also pointed out that all the three senators in Lagos are Muslims – Senators Sanni Wasiu Eshilokunon for Lagos Central, Tokunbo Abiru for Lagos East and Oluranti Adebule for Lagos West senatorial zones.
“Despite these, we, Christians never raised an eyebrow. So, why is the Lagos State House of Assembly stoking religious tension by rejecting many commissioner-nominees on religious grounds, deceptively couched for the public as insufficient documentation?” the group queried.
The group wondered why a political party that has a Muslim/Muslim ticket and recently appointed Muslims as new national chairman and national secretary would engage in such religious politics. It cautioned the Assembly to retrace its steps and embrace steps that would promote peace and development of the state.
