The Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, on Sunday, rose in defence of the immediate-past governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, over his six-minute viral video, in which he justified his preference for Muslims in appointments during his administration.
The viral video captured El-Rufai telling some Islamic clerics on the eve of his final day in office, in the Hausa language that, “Why did I pick Dr Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe to be my deputy in 2019? First, I did a thorough calculation that most of those that are not Muslims don’t vote for our party (the All Progressives Congress). Most of them. So, why should I give them the deputy (governor) position?
“I did my calculation and I knew we could win the election without giving them (position of deputy governor). That’s first. That’s a purely political issue. It’s politics. You want to win an election, you’re looking for people that will vote for you. We have observed that since we started practising democracy, we know places we used to win elections and those places we don’t. We’ve done that calculation politically. That’s the political point of it”.
But the Kaduna State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. John Hayab, during an interview on Arise TV, flayed El-Rufai over the comment.
However, Sharia Council, in a statement on Sunday by its Secretary, AbdurRahman Hassan, defended El-Rufai, while describing CAN’s stance as hypocritical.
The council said, “For the past one week, the Christian Association of Nigeria, Kaduna State Chapter has been wagging tongues, accusing the former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasiru Ahmad El-Rufai, of making some inciting statements as far as CAN is concerned, simply because he aired his view on the political realities of Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“During the campaigns for the just concluded elections in this country, where was CAN when majority of pastors were making unguarded utterances, which if not for the help of Allah (SWT), Nigeria would have been history.
“Where was CAN when a pastor stood on the pulpit with an AK-47 in Abuja? Where was CAN when some Christian clergies were making prophecies of doom for this country? But Alhamdu Lillah, all the hullabaloo and all the fake and false prophecies, nothing negative happened to our dear country, Nigeria.
“The Muslim Ummah have been tolerant enough, if not, there is no way a Muslim-dominated state like Taraba will be governed by a Christian. If Plateau State, with a population of over 35 per cent Muslims, were denied the deputy governor slot, why should Kaduna State, with Muslim population of close to 75 per cent, not have Muslim-Muslim ticket?
“Good men of God always preach peace, not violence and inciting tendencies which, in turn, will be a threat to peace and development. We enjoin CAN to toe the line of honour in neutrality, rather than playing double standards”.
