8th June, 2023
PRESS RELEASE:
EL-RUFAI : CAN MISSED THE POINT – MURIC
The Kaduna State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) two days ago attacked the immediate past governor of the state, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. CAN spoke through its state chairman, Reverend Joseph Hayab.
However, a faith-based human rights organisation has slammed CAN for attacking El-Rufai. MURIC insists that what happened during the elections in Kaduna was the actualisation of core democratic principles. The group added that CAN missed the point by accusing the former governor of Islamisation.
The full statement reads:
“The chairman of the Kaduna State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Reverend Joseph Hayab, attacked the immediate past governor of the state, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, two days ago. He accused the former governor of Islamisation over the Muslim-Muslim ticket (https://punchng.com/islamization-el-rufai-seeking-relevance-ignore-him-can/?utm_source=telegram&utm_medium=social).
“On the contrary, however, we assert clearly, emphatically and unequivocally that what happened during the elections in Kaduna was the actualisation of core democratic principles. CAN missed the point by accusing the former governor of Islamisation.
“A simple illustration will expose Reverend Hayab’s ignorance. America has a predominant Christian population. However, there are pockets of Muslim communities in the same America. But can any sane American Muslim accuse President Biden of Christianisation simply because both himself and his vice are Christians? Ditto for countries like Britain, France, Germany. Can Muslims accuse those countries of Christianisation? Hayab should go back to school.
“We reiterate that the Muslim-Muslim ticket which came into effect during the elections in Kaduna in 2019 and 2023 was the actualisation of core democratic principles. The Christians who are a minority in Kaduna State actually pushed the Muslims to showcase their demographic importance. They did this by always asking for too much and demanding far more than they deserve. They always insisted on taking the deputy governorship slot and half of cabinet positions.
“They continued to have their way until El-Rufai came on board. Then the bubble burst. Being a shrewd politician and a genius among revolutionaries, he enlightened the Muslim population and called the bluff of the impertinent Christian minority. The sleeping majority became conscious of the true political architecture in the state. The result was a crushing defeat of an overbearing Christian minority in two consecutive gubernatorial elections (2019 and 2023).
“Thus came the end of the tyranny of a vocal and politically conscious minority against a silent and apolitical majority. Their power rested in the possession of the paraphernalia of propaganda. El-Rufai’s only crime was that he woke up the sleeping majority Muslims and made them conscious of their civic and political responsibilities. Is that why Joseph Hayab is on fire? Is anything wrong with majority Muslims in power in Kaduna or Nigeria when majority Christians are in power in the US, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, name it?
“Renowned political scientists like Almond and Verba acknowledge the association of popular participation with democracy. Jack Lively laid emphasis on ‘situation of equality’ being the bedrock of true democracy. Margoli called majority rule in a democracy ‘equal opportunity to participate’. So why should CAN complain if Muslims who are the majority are in power?
“El-Rufai taught the silent majority who hitherto had no voice how to weaponise their voters’ cards and that proved to be the game changer. El-Rufai liberated Kaduna Muslims in 2019. He repeated the same feat in 2023 and went ahead to emancipate Nigerian Muslims in 2023 by mobilising the Noble Dozen (i.e. the twelve Northern governors who insisted that power should shift to the South).
“Is that why Joseph Hayab is demonising El-Rufai? If achievement is the parameter, El-Rufai’s name should be in the Guiness Book of Records for breaking a jinx. Muslims, particularly those in Kaduna State and the rest of Nigerian Muslims in general, were in shackles. El-Rufai came to liberate them. The good thing is that he did all that without firing a single shot. Perhaps that is why Hayab has not called him a terrorist.
“Hayab should apologise to El-Rufai for accusing him of Islamisation. Who has El-Rufai Islamised? How many are the Christians of Kaduna State? Why should an infinitesimally small minority seek to dominate a predominant majority? It is Hayab and his co-travellers in CAN who are guilty of practising tyranny of the minority. Islamisation is a myth, a mirage and a sham.
They are experts at noise-making even when they are the culprits. They are a grandstanding minority keen on intimidating and coercing a silent majority. Well, the sleeping giant is now fully awake, never to fall asleep again.
“Is it not a misnomer for Hayab to label El-Rufai as someone seeking relevance? Is El-Rufai irrelevant in the scheme of things in this country? How can a two-term governor be irrelevant? Who is more important: Hayab or El-Rufai? Infra dignitatem.
“Joseph Hayab has not recovered from the shock of defeat. He is still bitter and he is engaging in scape-goatism instead of licking his wounds in absolute solitude. But picking El-Rufai as a scape goat is a gross miscalculation. He should look below him for a suitable scape goat, not above him. He will only succeed in adding salt to his injury if he continues like this.
“The lesson El-Rufai has taught people like Hayab is that Kaduna was a micro, the Nigerian Muslim-Muslim ticket which produced Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the microcosm. CAN missed the point when it accused him of Islamisation. The Muslim population in Kaduna and Nigeria as a whole can only increase further, ceteris paribus. El-Rufai was therefore right when he said Muslim rule in Kaduna will be sustained beyond twenty years.
“We advise Hayab to find time to school some pseudo-magician Christian clerics whose pastime is false prophesy. They are the greatest tragedy that ever happened to Nigeria. True Christians are already tired of them.
“How can a pastor predict that there would be no election in 2023 and CAN felt no need to call him and other busy bodies to order after the election took place? There is a gaping lacuna between CAN and responsibility. Meanwhile we have a very strong suspicion that Joseph Hayab is suffering from minority complex psychosis.”
#DemocracyGameOfNumbers
#ElRufaiLiberatorOfMuslims
#IslamisationAMirage
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Executive Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC).
