The apex body for Islamic organisations in Northern Nigeria, the Jama’atul Nasril Islam, has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of having a hidden agenda with the convocation of the National Conference.
The JNI, led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, said despite the concerns expressed by many well-meaning Nigerians, the President had gone ahead to inaugurate the conference, in Abuja on Monday.
JNI’s Secretary-General, Dr. Khalid Aliyu, at a news conference 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.”
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 48 percentage is shared by Muslims and other religions in the land.
“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...
The Secretary-General said that of specific concern to the JNI was the representation of the security experts in the conference, noting that of the 18 security exports at the conference, only 22.2 per cent are 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 the concern of the Muslims
“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.”
Heappealed to all Nigerians, irrespective of their religious and ethnic affinity to come together to address the problem of insecurity in the country in order to safeguard the future of the nation before it's too late.
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