The Christian Association of Nigeria on Tuesday described as derogative, comments credited to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in which he said there were no plans to Islamise the country.
The organisation also condemned the accusation by the Minister during a Town Hall meeting in Ilorin where he accused religious leaders of making alleged provocative statements that could lead to religious war.
“If those murderous Fulani herdsmen are faceless, how come the Sultan of Sokoto is claiming that they are not Nigerians and in another instance, the Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai said they had been paid for the “wrong done to them’’? Why is it that whenever these murderers are perpetrating their atrocities, the security agencies look elsewhere until their victims decided to fight back?
“Is it because the security agencies are Muslim dominated? CAN says No to belittling remarks in the name of politics. Enough of these lies by Lai Mohammed”, CAN stated.
The Minister had described as fallacies the planned Islamization of Nigeria, the killing of Christians by Muslims, while labelling of Nigeria as the most dangerous place for Christians in the world could serve as a recipe for a religious war.
“Those who are making these allegations know that they are not true, but they have found in religion another tool to demonize the government of the day, while diverting attention from the government’s anti-corruption stance and create undue tension in the polity”, Mohammed had said.
But the President of CAN, Dr Samson Supo Ayokunle, in a statement issued in Abuja by his Special Assistant (Media and Communications), Adebayo Oladeji, said certain actions by the Federal Government, had fueled insinuations that there were plans to Islamize Nigeria.
He said, “We are disappointed but not surprised with the disparaging lies and abusive statements credited to the Minister of Information (Alhaji Lai Mohammed) in Ilorin during the Town hall meeting where he was accusing religious leaders of making alleged provocative statements that can lead to religious war.
“Mohammed in his characteristic manner left out the issues but went after the so-called religious leaders, which we all know, are the Christian leaders because we know that the Minister dare not speak against the Moslem leaders who had said worse things. That would be an open invitation of Fatwah.