The Jama’atul Nasril Islam led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar has continued to voice its non support of the National Conference, claiming that President Jonathan has a hidden agenda.
JNI’s Secretary-General, Dr. Khalid Aliyu, at a news conference in Kaduna yesterday said muslims were shortchanged in the selection of delegates to the conference as Christians had the lion share of the representation.
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
“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 the confab. Nigerians have warned that the confab 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.”