Is APC Truly Anti-Christian?

Religion is increasing becoming entrenched in Nigerian politics. The map of the votes cast in the 2011 presidential elections shows a voting pattern that reveals a clear demarcation splitting the nation across sectional, ethnic and religious lines. Most of the votes President Jonathan got in the North were cast by Northern Christians in Plateau, Nasarawa, Gombe, Bauchi, Taraba, Southern Kaduna, and Kebbi states (where he got at least a quarter of the total votes cast) and from southerners living in the region.

Just recently, the PDP National Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, stated that an Islamic cleric, Ambassador Yusuf Garba, and the Religious Equity Promotion Council (REPC), had exposed a plot by the APC to balkanise Nigeria along religious lines. It alleged that the party is planning to impose an Islamic agenda like that of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

In a swift reaction, the Interim National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said both the PDP and the Presidency were desperate to cause problems in the polity. He further explained that out of 35 officers in the Interim National Executive Committee of the party, 18 are Muslims while the remaining 17 are Christians.

The media spat between the two parties notwithstanding, there are concerns in some quarters that the ACP, by its perceived skewed religious composition, may indeed be up to some form of Islamic agenda. Some observers are quick to point out the predominance in the party of the religion of its key protagonists. Tinubu, Buhari, Akande, Lai Mohammed, El Rufia, Masari, Shekarau, Modu Sheriff, Sani Yarima and a host of others are all Muslims. The involvement of some Christian politicians in the opposition party (Rochas, Onu, Akume etc), has not doused the unease, even apprehension, in some sections of Nigeria.   

The recent defection of five PDP governors and 37 House of Representative members to the APC has not dulled some people’s perception of the APC as an Islamic party. On the contrary, it reinforces it. Other than Governor Amaechi and his state’s House of Representative members, the other defecting governors and almost all their states’ House of Representative members are Muslims.

It is therefore not surprising that the PDP is making political capital of this perception. Religion is a very emotive issue in Nigeria and the PDP is using the religious card, unfortunately, rather effectively. It really doesn’t matter now whether the APC is anti-Christian or not. The PDP’s allegation further entrenches that label in the minds of a lot of Christians across the country especially in its central part where religious fault lines are in volatile flux.

It is important to note that in spite of the posturing of the national leadership of CAN, the PDP is not pro-Christian. It is anything but that. It does not in any way represent Christian ideals, values or interests. In spite of the fact that the ruling party has produced two ‘Christian’ presidents since the advent of the current democratic dispensation, it cannot honestly be said that Nigerian Christians have fared better than people of other faiths under the watch of these presidents.

So, is the APC anti-Christian? It may not have set out to be so, but the composition of its leadership raises a lot of questions. A close scrutiny of its Interim National Executive Committee reveals lopsidedness in favour of Muslims in the allocation of powerful offices:  

1. Party Leader - North: Gen Muhammadu Buhari (Muslim).

2. Party Leader - South: Bola Ahmed Tinubu (Muslim) .                                                         

3. National Chairman: Abdulkareem Bisi Akande (Muslim) .                                                               

4. Deputy National Chairman: Aminu Bello Masari (Muslim) .                                                     

5. National Secretary: Tijjani Musa Tumsah (Muslim) .                                                             

6. Deputy National Secretary: Nasir El-Rufa (Muslim) .                                                               

7. National Publicity Secretary: Lai Muhammad (Muslim) .                                                             

8. National Treasurer: Sadiya Umar Faruq (Muslim) .                                                           

9. National Financial Secretary: Alhaji Shaibu Musa (Muslim) .                                                       

10. National Youth Leader: Abubakar Lado (Muslim) .                                                     

11. National Legal Adviser: Muiz Banie (Muslim).                                                      

12. National Deputy Auditor: Bala Jibrin (Muslim) .                                                    

13. National Women Leader: Sharia Ikeazor (Muslim convert) .                                             

14. EX-officio Member: Muniru Muse (Muslim).

15. EX-officio Member: Alhaji Yemi Sanusi (Muslim).  

This raises very serious questions:

 

Are Christian members of the APC not good enough to occupy the most senior positions in the party?

Will they play only second fiddle in the party as it seems to be the case in APC controlled states in the South-West?

Will Christian interests be protected by a party which seems to relegate its Christian members to the background?

Can Nigerian Christians trust the APC not to reduce them to the status of second class citizens when they elect them into office, especially at the centre?

The APC must provide satisfactory answers to these questions or the anti-Christian label will stick to it and cost it the votes of millions of Nigerian Christians.

Also Read: Will Northern Christians Vote APC