Religious Rights Violation: CAN, SOKAPU back US, FG disagrees
The Federal Government on Tuesday describes as untrue the allegation by the United States that Nigeria was engaging in systematic religious freedom violations.
The allegation was said to have led to the country being placed on a religious freedom blacklist.
But the government described the allegation as a “case of honest disagreement between the two nations on the causes of violence in Nigeria”.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the denial in a statement titled, “Nigeria denies religious freedom violation, neither does it have a policy of religious persecution. Victims of insecurity and terrorism in the country are adherents of Christianity, Islam and other religions.
“Nigeria jealously protects religious freedom as enshrined in the country’s constitution and takes seriously any infringements in this regard”.
Meanwhile, The Christian Association of Nigeria on Tuesday expressed fears that the blacklisting might attract sanctions.
The Special Assistant, Media and Communications to the CAN president, Adebayo Oladeji said, “The leadership of CAN is not happy that the US has placed Nigeria on a religious freedom blacklist because of the implications which include possible sanctions if it does not improve its record.
“But, at the same time, we are encouraged that the global world is aware of what is happening in the country. Although there is religious freedom in the country, there are a lot of religious persecutions in most of the states of the federation, especially in the Northern part of the country.
“For example, many states like Kano and Jigawa are denying Christians the Certificate of Occupancy, churches are not allowed to purchase lands and they have to be going through individuals to buy lands and even if that is done, they will be denied of the C of O”.
The Special Assistant, who labelled the “discriminatory policies” as religious persecutions, added that mosques were built wherever they desired and no government dared to ask for any document.
“In education, Christians are not allowed to study courses like Medicine and Law in some universities in the North. Most of the federal owned universities in the North will not allow Christians to become the Vice Chancellor even if they are qualified.
“A good example is University of Ilorin where in the past 25 years or more, no Christian has been allowed to be its Vice Chancellor.
“About 95% of those who head our security agencies are sharing same faith with the President. In some agencies, Christians are replaced with Muslims. This is what we witness everyday.
“The country belongs to every citizen irrespective of their religious affiliations but the government is not interested”.
Similarly, the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) on Tuesday said the blacklist by the US was too liberal.
The National Public Relations Officer of SOKAPU, Mr Luka Binniyat said, “Southern Kaduna, which is predominantly Christian would have welcomed outright sanctions slammed against individuals in the Buhari government that have become notorious in their intolerance, hate and justification of violence against Christian communities in Nigeria.”
Also, the Middle Belt Forum commended the US for the move, noting that the decision was long overdue.
The National President of the Middle Belt Forum, Dr Bitrus Porgu said in Jos on Tuesday that the US would not take such a critical decision without a valid intelligence report.