The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) has slammed the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) over its comment about the shortlisting of 20 Justices-designate by the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC).
In a statement signed by Ag. Director of Administration, NSCIA, Prof. Salisu Shehu; and Deputy Secretary General, NSCIA Arc. Haruna Zuberu Usman-Ugwu, the Muslim group accused CAN of “making wild and mendacious allegations of Christian marginalisation” in the country.
The NSCIA described this as “a wicked strategy and unholy tactics to accuse Muslims of marginalisation even though Muslims are the ones being deliberately and systemically marginalised by Christians, who continue to consolidate on the colonial agenda of emasculating Muslims.”
The Muslim group alleged that Muslims are a minority in the religious composition of the Court of Appeal as the three geopolitical zones of the South have only two Muslim JCAs while the three geopolitical zones of the North have 15 Christian JCAs.
The statement read;
The attention of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) has been drawn to the insinuations and vituperations that trailed the shortlisting of 20 Justices-designate by the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC).
It would be noted that except it is compelled to do so, the Council has often resisted joining issues with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) as a matter of principle. This is because CAN has proved, times without number, its morbid hatred for Islam and Muslims, its remarkable capacity for destructive mischief, its dexterous use of scurrilous propaganda and its predilection for always being economical with the truth as part of the sinister strategy of heating up the polity anytime a Muslim is at the helm of affairs. It would be recalled that not too long ago, the Council was forced to expose the marginalisation of Muslims in the successive Boards of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) after CAN made one of its wild and mendacious allegations of Christian marginalisation.
It is actually a wicked strategy and unholy tactics to accuse Muslims of marginalisation though Muslims are the ones being deliberately and systemically marginalised by Christians, who continue to consolidate on the colonial agenda of emasculating Muslims. However, NSCIA would not allow the serial falsehood of CAN and its propensity for character assassination of people on the basis of their religious identity to stand because truth is irrefragable.
To wit, the intransigence of CAN is playing out again in the deliberate distortion of the issues surrounding the shortlisted 20 Justices-designate. The grouse of CAN, as amplified by some hagiographers masquerading as opinion leaders, is that 13 of the 20 recently shortlisted Justices are from the North and are Muslims. Though the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, on her honour stated unequivocally that the procedure of the appointment followed “due and usual process” and that the recommendation “was done without any preference for tribe, creed or association”, mischief makers, ethnic jingoists and religious bigots resorted to blackmail. In venting their spleen against the development, CAN especially and its apologists choose to ignore the fact that Muslims are a minority in the religious composition of the Court of Appeal. In a statement filled with bile and bigotry, the so-called religious body expressed its “feelings of sadness, disgust and anger at the insensitivity demonstrated by the FJSC in compiling the list.
It seems undeniable that the recklessness displayed by the FJSC suggests a steady and gradual descend (sic) to (sic) a process of Islamising the Judiciary of Nigeria.”
The unassailable truth is that Justices of the Court of Appeal (JCAs) are 70 but the North with 19 States has 34 while the South with 17 States has 36. The South thus has more JCAs than the North. Meanwhile, out of the 36 JCAs from the South West (where Muslims are a majority), South East and South South (in both of which Muslims have considerable indigenous populations), all the JCAs are Christians except for Justice Habeeb Adewale Abiru of Lagos state and Justice Mistura Bolaji-Yusuf of Oyo state. But in the three geo-political zones of the North where Muslims are predominant, there are 34 JCAs out of which 15 are Christians.
In other words, the North East has 4 Muslim JCAs and 7 Christians, the North Central has 6 Muslim JCAs and 7 Christians while the North West has 9 Muslim JCAs and 1 Christian JCA. Of the 36 from the South, only 2 are Muslims.
NSCIA which noted that Christianity preaches love, honesty, sincerity, tolerance, good neighbourliness and kindness, among other virtues, accused CAN of creating a Nigerian version of Christianity which is anchored on morbid hatred, undisguised dishonesty, caustic insincerity, religious intolerance, perennial hostility and outright wickedness.
The group also averred that if CAN had its way, it would annihilate Muslims from Nigeria. NSCIA also used the Hijab controversy in Kwara state to back up its claim of CAN being intolerant.
The statement added;