The Christian Rights Agenda (CRA) has condemned, in strongest terms, an
insult on the Christian faith by Mr. Abdulkareem Jamiu Asuku, the Chief
of Staff to Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello.
Mr. Asuku who, on Radio Kogi 93.5 FM on Monday, while discussing a
lingering quarrel among Muslims in Ebiraland over which sect produces
the Chief Imam of a mosque in Okene, veered off the context of the
discussion by alluding to denominations in Christianity.
He compared the dichotomy among the Islamic sects to Christian
denominations, and disparaging Christians for not being true followers
of Jesus Christ.
In a statement signed by its Acting Director of Publicity, Tom
Chiahemen, CRA argued that Mr. Asuku’s comments were not only an insult
on Christianity, but they also epitomized the hatred and bigotry against
Christians in the government of Governor Yahaya Bello.
The CRA is a Christian organization set up to advocate the respect for
the rights of Christians in line with the principles of freedom of
religion, thoughts and beliefs, enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The statement said, “Kogi governor’s Chief of Staff’s comments steams of
discrimination, bigotry, hatred and the kind of bias that should not be
in the heart of a government official. The Bible says, “out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34).
Apparently, this Chief of Staff spoke from the prevalent disposition of
the government at Lugard House in Lokoja, and that is unfortunate. A
government and those who run it should be all-embracing. Governor Yahaya
Bello is not a governor of Muslims, except he wants to be seen to be so.
But if his CoS is showing open disdain for the Christian faith, it means
the administration is doomed.”
The CRA added that “Christian denominations in Nigeria have not carried
out cold-blooded murders; massacre of innocent persons in villages and
cities; destruction of properties; raping of women, men and children;
hatred, and outright genocide that is the stock-in-trade of some
religious groups in Nigeria. An evidence of this is the fact that
Ebiraland is the hotbed of senseless sectarian and ethnic killings in
Kogi State in spite of the fact that the majority of the people in that
part of the state belongs to one religion. Christianity does not
advocate mass murder, hatred, and all the evils that manifest in
Ebiraland.”
The Christian organization added that “Christian denominations have,
instead, fostered freedom, peace, trust, respect for each other, and
even led to development. In Nigeria, the Redeemed Christian Church of
God is not at war with Deeper Life Christian Ministry; neither is the
Baptist Church at war with Methodist Church. Churches are not
daggers-drawn at each other, unlike what happens in Okene over the
position of Imam of the mosque.”
The group called on Kogi State governor to change his bias towards
Christians in Kogi State, and counsel his staff against disparaging the
Christian faith in the name of settling a dispute among Islamic sects.
The CRA maintained that contrary to Asuku’s disparaging insinuation,
the various Christian denominations in Nigeria, as “true followers of
Jesus Christ,” do not, and have always condemned, cold-blooded
murders; massacre of innocent persons in villages and cities;
destruction of properties; raping of women, men and children; hatred,
and outright genocide being reported in some parts of Nigeria.
An evidence of this is the view of many Nigerians that Ebiraland is the
hotbed of senseless sectarian and ethnic killings in Kogi State in spite
of the fact that the majority of the people in that part of the state
belongs to one religion.
The CRA is of the candid opinion that instead of dissipating his energy
disparaging Christianity, Governor Bello’s Chief of Staff, who ought to
have been worried about this public perception of Ebiraland, should have
been finding ways of how to change the narrative.
The Christian organization added that “Christian denominations have,
instead, fostered freedom, peace, trust, respect for each other, and
even led to development. In Nigeria, the Redeemed Christian Church of
God is not at war with Deeper Life Christian Ministry; neither is the
Baptist Church at war with Methodist Church. Churches are not
daggers-drawn at each other, unlike what happens in Okene over the
position of Imam of the mosque.”
The group called on Kogi State governor to change his bias towards
Christians in Kogi State, and counsel his staff against disparaging the
Christian faith in the name of settling a dispute among Islamic sects.