The National Christian Elders Forum, an affiliate group of the Christian Association of Nigeria(CAN)has admonished President Muhammadu Buhari against aligning Nigeria with the Saudi Arabia led Muslim-Arab coalition against ISIS.
The group, in a statement, advising the presidency, argued that if the country identifies in any way with the Saudi Arabia led coalition, it would send provocative signal to Iran, the main supporter of Shiites that Nigeria has aligned itself with Saudi Arabia (Sunni) to the detriment of the Shiites in Nigeria.
Chairman of NCEF, Solomon Asemota insisted in his statement on Sunday, in Abuja, that Nigeria was neither an Islamic nor an Arab nation, hence should maintain its non aligned position on global religious crisis, including ISIS.
“The National Christian Elders Forum calls on President Muhammadu Buhari not to drag Nigeria into the Saudi Arabia led Muslim/Arab coalition against ISIS.
“He promised Nigerians before his election that he is now a democrat and has no intention of imposing Sharia or any form of religious domination on the nation.
“It is imperative that Nigeria maintains its neutral, non aligned status on internationally contentious issues, whether it is politics, ideologies, or religion. Nigeria should maintain its non-aligned status. Already, statements that cause concern are emanating from Iran concerning the conflict between the Nigerian Army and the Shiites led by Sheik El-Zakzaky.
“If Nigeria should participate in the Saudi Arabia led coalition, it would be a negation of all that the President promised before his election. Such a denial would be a terrible betrayal of the trust that Nigerians from all over the country reposed in President Buhari,” Asemota noted.
The forum also debunked alleged CAN’s connivance with the army and Boko Haram sect against Shiites in Nigeria, saying “there is no iota of truth in a video report credited to an Iranian television station in which an Iranian lecturer posited that a “triangle of evil” composing of the Nigerian Army, Boko Haram, and Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) have combined to destroy Shiites in Nigeria!
“We wonder under which ideology would CAN team up with Boko Haram to destroy an Islamic sect. Apart from its sheer absurdity, this dangerous statement should not be dismissed because it is calculated to beat the drums of war in far away Iran to mobilize Muslim Shiites to attack Nigerian Christians.
“The Nigerian Church has suffered tremendously under Sunni Boko Haram; the emergence of Shiite backed insurgency in Nigeria must be avoided at all costs”.
NCEF equally expressed displeasure over the recurring decimal of violence and destruction that seem to, presently, define the northern region of Nigeria.
It said rather than diminish, the cycle of violence and destruction has kept on escalating and expresses itself in differing modes and formats.
According to CAN, with the situation on ground, the traditional, political, religious, academic, and commercial leadership of northern Nigeria are under obligation to ensure that religious intolerance, which has become the bane of the North, is eradicated.
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