A group called the Democratic Reformers has flayed the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) for allegedly saying that Christians from the South-West should not contest for the office of president or vice president in 2023.
The group, in a statement Thursday by its South-West Coordinator, Mr. Mukaila Olalekan, said such comment was capable of causing division among Nigerians.
MURIC’s Chairman, Professor Ishaq Akintola, was quoted to have said, “Three Yoruba Christians (Obasanjo, Shonekan, and Osinbajo himself) have occupied the presidency whereas no single Yoruba Muslim has been either military head of state, president, or vice president of Nigeria.”
But Olalekan said it was wrong to use religion to achieve a partisan objective, adding that the matter was too sensitive to toy with it in that manner.
They said, “It is neither surprising nor unexpected that as 2023 draws nearer, we will witness the implementation of desperate measures designed to politically engineer social divisions amongst our people by those who believe that such divisive tactics would serve their interests.”
“We are however disappointed that MURIC has joined this cohort with an incautious exploitation of religion, as displayed in its recent statement demanding the exclusion of Christian southerners from the 2023 presidential race.”
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