Opinion: Is the APC pursuing an Islamic agenda for 2015?

by Yekinni Shakiru

apc-vs-pdp-thewillnigeria

When did an Oyegun, an Ngige, a Fayemi, an Oyinlola, a Boni Haruna, an Okorocha and all others too numerous to mention here embrace the ‘Islamic agenda’? And what is this penchant of associating ‘Islamic agenda’ with violence; an imbecility or a sinister plot?

The above reckless allegation credited to Olisa Metuh would have passed unnoticed as previous comments if it had remained at the level of innuendos politicians are wont to throwing at one another at party-politics level. However, to have brought Islam into the picture with those negative adjectives, particularly by a supposed National Publicity Secretary of a party like the PDP depicts a worrying trend and sends the signals that suggest the current administration had embraced the theory that the country is polarized along religious lines and that it has pitched its tent with one of the camps! For a statement like this coming from such a high office as that of the spokes mouth of whatever is left of the PDP, we need to keep our fingers crossed that President Jonathan and his entourage would not take this nation down another painful path of internecine strife, so that the prophesy of one of the country’s pastors that the President’s destiny is to break up this country does not come to pass.

To be candid politicians are fond of playing any card that could turn things in their favor –religious, ethnic, tribal and so on -but to have descended so low as to start equating the political actions of some individual as an ‘Islamic agenda’, more so coloring it in the negative is the height of irresponsibility. It is also a manifestation of what some have described as the intellectual porosity characteristic of this administration. In fact, the crop of individuals in this administration (with very few exceptions) has demonstrated the paradox of being educated illiterates whose common denominator seem to be a lack of simple intelligence, and the habit of talking before thinking all rolled into one. How much display of this official ignorance at the highest level that insults the sensibilities of Nigerians are we going to have from this administration?

The other day one of them said that the government did not know the implication of the agreements they signed with the Academic Staff Union of Universities [ASUU]; and the head of the administration himself is not to be outdone in issuing statements that seem to portray him more as a sectional leader than a national one. One such statement was that following the Independence Day bombings in Abuja, where he rushed to say –pre empting investigations- that the bombings could not have been carried out by ‘his people’, referring to his south/south geo political zone of the country; only for the South African Police and Judiciary to conduct a thorough finding which nailed the man now languishing in a South African jail. Before that time the President was as sure in his mind that it was those bent on destabilizing his administration that were responsible; the same way an Olisah Metuh was so sure that the above allegation which he chose to give the garb of a ‘revelation’ by a man who camouflages between being a cleric and a politician must have come from the divine, hence his going on air to broadcast such reckless allegation!

It is the attitude of the lazy and the never-do-well to jettison introspection in unraveling some of the misfortunes that do engulf them from self inflicted woes; otherwise how could anybody come up with a claim as spurious as the array of politicians dumping the PDP as an embrace of an Islamic agenda to foster violence and mayhem. When did an Oyegun, an Ngige, a Fayemi, an Oyinlola, a Boni Haruna, an Okorocha and all others too numerous to mention here embrace the ‘Islamic agenda’? And what is this penchant of associating ‘Islamic agenda’ with violence; an imbecility or a sinister plot? For crying out loud, it wasn’t a Muslim who predicted that the President’s destiny was to breakup this country which he seemed to be working towards, neither was it a Muslim former Head of State who wrote the President a letter ‘before it is too late’.

A little exercise of common sense would have made it crystal clear that what is ongoing in the polity is a reformulation of the ‘Elite Platform’ of the country in the aftermath of the crippling of the PDP by its present leadership owing to what the aggrieved amongst them saw as greed, ineptitude, insidious manipulations and a refusal to honor what some of them insisted was a gentlemanly agreement; hence the exodus of politicians from the PDP to the new ‘fertile land’ with its bandwagon syndrome. More treacherous is Metuh’s reference to the Muslim Brotherhood with the seeming aim of wanting to link Nigeria with the dubious global agenda of some war- mongers who will eventually undo the country as they have predicted!

It is on record that no politician at that level has ever uttered such divisive statements and the Presidency is advised to call these men to order. A retraction of that allegation and the tendering of an unreserved apology especially to Muslims could arrest this ominous drift. In the final analysis, let those who think their lot is bettered when the political entity that ‘houses’ them is balkanized have a rethink. The carnage currently engulfing South Sudan in the unending ‘fight’ for ‘control of resource’ should serve as a lesson that division and strife, once encouraged has no limit. Therefore let Metuh and other political jobbers in the administration exercise caution as their utterances have more weighty effects and could be interpreted as representing the official position of government on such matters.

 

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

 

One comment

  1. The penchant for Nigeria writers to stand logic on its head is appaling and degrading. This write up is so tainted I wonder if we should stop reading stuff written by Nigeria writers. First is the allegation of sectional or regional politics against the president. The writer state that the president "rushed to say -pre empting investigations- that the bombings could not have been carried out by 'his people'…" Clearly this is not only a wicked attempt to distort history but a clear attempt to deceive the reading public. The President was briefed by the SSS who refuted initial claim by a supposed faction of MEND (a terrorist organization granted amnesty by his predecessor) that they were responsible. The President only re-echoed SSS findings which was also supported by releases from the arrow heads of the MEND organization who are now repentant former terrorists enjoying amnesty. The findings of the South African government wasa aided by information supplied by the Nigeria state security department which nailed Orkar. Before then the SSS had arrested Henry Orkar brother for complicity. It was not a MEND attack but a single act of terrorism carried out by a criminal. The slant of the story, with allusion to ethnic politics is obviously what is tearing this country apart. Why in trying to defend your party of involvement in attempt to "islamize" Nigeria, is the writer creating more problems by adding subjectivity to an obviously charged isssue? This is not the way forward, in the end, the writer failed to convince with any meaningful point that Olisa Metuh is wrong in his deductions. His best point that the likes of Okorocha r not Islamic doesn't hold water because Okorocha is being accused by his people right now of trying to introduce Islam to a predominantly Christian state and attempting to build a mosque with tax payers money.

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